(RE)MAKING BREAD:

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGIES

AND THE SKILLS OF

FOOD INDUSTRY WORKERS

A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and

Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology

University of Saskatchewan

By

Timothy Zagozewski

! Copyright Timothy Zagozewski, April 2008. All Rights Reserved

 PERMISSION TO USE

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a post-

graduate degree at the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the libraries of this
university may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for
copying this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be
granted by the professor who supervised my thesis work, or in his absence, by the head of
the department, or the dean of the college in which my work was done. It is understood
that any copying, publication, or use of this thesis, or part thereof for financial gain shall
not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition
shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which
may be made of any material in my thesis.

Requests for permission to copy or make other use of the material in this thesis in
whole or part should be addressed to:

Head of the Department of Sociology

University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7N 5A5

i
 ABSTRACT

The global food industry continues to grow through mergers and acquisitions. The
consolidation of grocery chains has necessarily led to increasingly large, heavily
industrialized food processing firms. These manufacturers rely on large-scale, automated
and mechanized production technologies to deliver controlled, consistent, and safe
products to retailers. Using Braverman’s (1974) deskilling thesis, and Standing’s (1992)
three-part definition of skill as the basis for investigation, this research explores the
effects of technological changes on the skills of food workers and focuses on the baking
industry. The primary research site is the in-store bakery of a Co-op grocery store in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Observation took place over a two-week period, and semi-
structured interviews were conducted with the bakers in the facility. Other research sites
included two large-scale industrial bakeries in western Canada and a flour milling facility
in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The bread-making processes involved at the research sites
are compared, and the impact of the technologies on the skills of workers at each site is
discussed. The findings from the research support Braverman’s deskilling thesis that
bakers in the industrialized food system are experiencing deskilling. This erosion of skills
is not only a result of the technological changes, but also, more importantly, the result of
the social relations of production. The research also explores Human Resources and
Social Development Canada’s Essential Skills program. The findings of the research
support the argument that the Essential Skills program is a classification scheme that is
rooted in scientific management, and can serve to marginalize workers employed in non-
knowledge-based occupations. Discussion of the findings also points toward the need to
investigate different forms of ownership and their role in preserving the skills and
knowledge of workers.

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is with deep respect and gratitude that I first acknowledge my thesis supervisor
Dr. Michael Gertler. His direction, encouragement, and depth of knowledge have all been
of invaluable assistance to me. Without his guidance I may never have been able fuse my
interests in work and technology with an industry as important as the food industry.
Thank you for opening my eyes and mind.

I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr. JoAnn Jaffe, whose continual
involvement in this project from day one has been important. Her direction during the
field research was beyond helpful. Further, I offer my thanks to Dr. Louise Clarke for her
time and insights. Thanks is also due to the members of the “Thought for Food: Essential
Skills and Food Systems Performance” research team, who have been very supportive of
this work. Also, to the bakers who participated in this project, a most earnest thank you is
well deserved. Their co-operation and candidness give this work richness I previously
could only have dreamed of.

To my wife Rebecca, I thank you for your endless encouragement, understanding,

and support. Words on a page will never allow me to express your importance to me. To
Emma, my beautiful daughter, a very special thank-you for giving me perspective on all
that is beautiful in life.

The support and camaraderie of my fellow sociology graduate students has been
greatly appreciated in completing this project. Finally, I offer my most sincere
appreciation to my family and friends for their support throughout this journey.

iii
 DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents, Barry and Marlene Zagozewski.
The completion of this work would not have been possible without their unwavering
support and unconditional love. In particular, this work is for my mom, who makes the
most delicious brown bread. One day my children will make bread by their own hands;
we will teach them together.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PERMISSION TO USE i
ABSTRACT ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
DEDICATION iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
PREFACE vii

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 A First Taste 1
1.2 Background 2
1.3 Statement of Thesis, Questions and Purpose 3
1.4 Research Design 6
1.5 Methodology 7
1.6 Methods 8

2.0 THE FOOD INDUSTRY

2.1 A Brief History of Bread 13
2.2 The International Grocery Market 16
2.3 The Canadian Retail Picture 20

3.0 PERSPECTIVES ON TECHNOLOGY

3.1 Theories of Technology and Society 24
3.2 Technology and the Food Industry 38

4.0 WORK AND SKILLS

4.1 The Labour Process 44
4.2 Skills and the Deskilling Hypothesis 49
4.3 Essential Skills 61
4.4 Summary of Literature 65

5.0 OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

5.1 Introduction 66
5.2 The Work Environments 68
5.2.1 The Co-op Bakery 68
5.2.1.1 The Bakers 75
5.2.1.2 The Managers 77
5.2.2 Industrial Facility A 79
5.2.3 Industrial Facility B 83
5.3 Deskilling Applied 86
5.3.1 Skill as Technique 87
5.3.2 Autonomy in the Workplace 97
5.3.3 Skill as Social Standing 106
5.4 Deskilling: An Uneven Process 108
5.5 Essential Skills and Bakery Work 112

v
5.6 Summary of Findings 118

6.0 DISCUSSION
6.1 Overview 120
6.2 Investigating Deskilling: The Interplay of Standing and Braverman 121
6.3 Essential Skills: Scientific Management Revisited 125
6.4 Technology and Agency 127
6.5 The Social Relations of Production 131
6.6 Summary 133

REFERENCES 137

vi
 PREFACE

As a middle class Canadian, I am used to starting my day with a good breakfast,

eating a well-balanced lunch, and coming home to a hot meal. It took many years of
study, reflection, growth, and personal encounters to realize that never worrying about
where my next meal might come from was a blessing. In the summers and falls of my
childhood, my family would often eat from our garden. Our pantry was stocked with
homemade preserves for the winter. On many cold weekends during the Manitoba falls
and winters we would eat homemade soups. That soup was always accompanied by the
most delicious bread I have ever known, my mother’s. For my family, homemade bread
was the norm.

My mother once told me a story that I now find especially humorous. After years
as a stay-at-home mom, my mother returned to work as a nurse. Her expanded
responsibilities did not impact her commitment to sending us to school with a good
lunch, but imagine my surprise when I opened my lunch to discover my sour cream and
cucumber bunwich (there is no accounting for taste) on a store-bought bun! From that
point on it was bought bread on a daily basis; homemade bread became more of a luxury
than a staple. In a case of absence making the heart grow fonder, on those weekends that
the bread came from our oven, the bread seemed to taste even better.

Now, many years later I again find my life centered around bread. On embarking
on my career as a master’s student, I envisioned a thesis investigating how technological
innovations have altered the work process. It was luck or fate, or both, that led me to
study these topics in the context of the food industry. Bread was one of many topics I
could have chosen, but the idea of investigating the bread industry resonated within me,
and also struck me as being relevant to many people.

vii
 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 A FIRST TASTE

Bread is a staple of diets throughout much of the world. Most cultures

demonstrate bread-making techniques, whether it is the loaf that most Canadians are

familiar with, or some other style of loaf that is baked in an oven or cooked over a fire

(e.g. bannock, tortillas, or flat breads). Bread is central to our culture, there is something

about it that appeals to people (Eagle, 2002).

Grocers appeal to our basic senses in designing their stores so that the first part of

the store we encounter is the bakery. This marketing technique reflects how corporations

recognize that food is more than a basic need; it has multiple material and symbolic

functions (Lind and Barham, 2004). The manner in which food retailers take advantage

of our senses is evidence of how our food culture is being incorporated into the realm of

power relationships, both in the production process and in consumption practices. In

many ways, this thesis is about power relationships, and how they play out in the

workplace and impact food workers. The focus in this case is on bakers working in

several commercial and industrial bakeries. This chapter outlines the investigative goals

of the thesis, the larger project that fostered development of this research, the research

methodology, and the overall design of the study.

 2

1.2 BACKGROUND

This thesis has emerged from work that I have done as a part of the “Thought for

Food: Essential Skills and Food Systems Performance” research team.1 The project was

one of several projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

(SSHRC) in co-operation with Human Resources and Social Development Canada

(HRSDC) with the purpose of investigating HRSDC’s Essential Skills (ES)2 program.

What made our approach to Essential Skills distinct was our emphasis on the food

system. The project was developed as a multi-disciplinary approach to investigating the

applicability of the ES program in various community and commercial food purveying

contexts. Members of the research team included Dr. Adrian Blunt, professor of

education at the University of Saskatchewan; Dr. Michael Gertler and Dr. JoAnn Jaffe

professors of sociology at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina

respectively; and Dr. Carol Henry and Dr. Susan Whiting, professors of nutrition at the

University of Saskatchewan. Further to the multi-disciplinary academic involvement, the

project also involved two very different community partners. The first of these was the

Child Hunger and Education Program (CHEP) represented at meetings by Karen

Archibald. The second partner was the Saskatoon Co-operative Association.3 Collin

Merritt, the general manager of one of the Co-op’s successful grocery retail outlets,

represented the Saskatoon Co-op. Other members of the research team included graduate

students from the departments and institutions represented by the participating faculty.

1
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) provided funding for the project. In
addition to funding from this project, my endeavors in completing this thesis were also funded by a
separate SSHRC Masters Award. The support in both cases is very much appreciated.
2
The Essential Skills program will be visited more fully later in the thesis.
3
The Saskatoon Co-operative Association is a member owned consumer cooperative in Saskatoon. Their
retail endeavors include grocery stores, gas bars, and home centers that sell building materials and home
improvement products.
 3

Because of the varied interests of the project members we were able to conduct

several investigations into the Essential Skills program in a food system context. The

many projects looked at topics as varied as consumer attitudes toward soy products, the

skills of volunteer nutrition coordinators, the process of ES accreditation, food

knowledge transfer over multiple generations of mothers and daughters, issues

surrounding breast-feeding, consumer knowledge and perceptions of quality, and the

skills of food workers – namely bakers. These wide-ranging projects were all grounded in

a common theme, and that was to investigate the skills and knowledge engaged at

varying points in the production, delivery, and consumption of food.

1.3 STATEMENT OF THESIS, QUESTIONS AND PURPOSE

Few things are as important as the food we eat. Because of this fact, we need to be

critically aware of food production methods and food distribution channels. Technologies

employed in these two links of the industrial food chain have drastic implications for the

diets of citizens, the security of the food system, and the dissemination and preservation

of culture. Within the food system itself, the technologies employed by companies have

effects on the level of industrial concentration and the organization of work. For all these

reasons, it is important to investigate the current state of our food system.

This thesis investigates the effects of technological change with respect to work in

the baking industry. A study of the baking industry provides insights into the industrial

food system, and the restructuring of work. The food industry is constantly undergoing

change, and these transformations can affect both workers and consumers. The

consolidation of food companies is having a profound effect on the structure of the food
 4

industry. In the Canadian baking industry alone, the recent acquisition of Maple Leaf

Foods’ baking operations by Canada Bread has resulted in a company with annual sales

beyond $1 billion (Schofield, 2003). This acquisition was accompanied by a take-over of

Ben’s Bakery, a prominent bakery chain in Atlantic Canada (Schofield, 2003). The

emergence of this processing giant will likely impact the structure of baking operations.

Centralized control is expected to lead to more strict “quality” standards, which will be

attained through increasing standardization. Despite the demand for high-quality artisnal

goods, robotic and computerized control systems are increasingly dominating food

processing, as they play a vital role in ensuring accuracy, consistency, and even food

safety (Burn, 1998). In addition, automation helps large firms to reduce labour costs

(Kohane, 2003).

The implementation of increasingly complex technologies into the workplace can

have profound implications on work processes and the organization of work. In The

Corrosion of Character, Sennett (1998) recalls the differences in a baking facility that he

had twice visited in his life. These visits were separated by several decades, and illustrate

how technologies have radically altered the workplace. Sennett recollects that during his

first visit the baking of bread was:

a balletic exercise which required years of training to get right…the bakers’

hands were constantly plunged into flour and water; the men used their
noses as well as their eyes to judge when the bread was done. Craft pride
was strong…(1998: 65-66)

In his later visit, Sennett notes that the business had shifted from local ownership to being

owned by a giant food conglomerate. As a result, the operation had changed drastically.

He did not consider it a mass production facility but rather remarked that the bakery was
 5

highly flexible and utilized sophisticated, reconfigurable machines to switch between

production of French bread, bagels, and other products depending on local demand

(Sennett, 1998). Sennett noted that computerized baking had profoundly changed the

balletic physical activities of the shop floor, and that the bakers no longer made physical

contact with the materials or loaves of bread. Rather, these processes were monitored via

computer screen displays which inform the baker of temperature, consistency, type of

bread, and colour of the loaves (Sennett, 1998). Sennett is careful not to romanticize the

conditions of the older factory in his assessment. He notes that where in the older facility

bakers suffered through extreme heat, pungent yeast odours, oven-related burns, and

pulled muscles from primitive dough beaters, the new facility appears cool and relatively

user friendly (Sennett, 1998). Passing judgment on these two different work

environments is up to the reader, what is important for our purposes is to recognize that

new technologies and capitalization of this workplace have fundamentally altered the

work performed by bakers.

The Canadian government acknowledges the changes within the food and baking

industries as well. Their ambitious Essential Skills program has been developed to

categorize the basic skills a worker needs to perform their work satisfactorily. A major

function of this program is to develop profiles for specific occupations, which identify the

necessary skills for properly doing a given job. Perhaps the clearest indication of change

with respect to baking is that the occupation is not one of the hundreds listed in the

Essential Skills database. Instead, bakers fall under the broader category of “Process

Control and Machine Operators, Food and Beverage Processing.” In part, my research
 6

aims to assess how well the profile put forth by the Canadian government reflects the

skills being used in the industry by workers.

Given the importance of food to our physical and cultural existence, it is

important to investigate the changing nature of what it means to be a baker in the 21st

Century. In part, my thesis question asks if we are facing a situation in which there is

significant deskilling occurring, or are we seeing a new class of bakers emerge with new

skill sets (Braverman, 1974)? In either of these cases we need to understand how power

relationships guide this process. In addition, we need to reflect on the social implications

of these changes.

There are three objectives associated with the research. The first is to observe the

skills of workers and to assess how skills are changing in the food industry under the

influence of technological developments. These observations, in tandem with semi-

structured interviews are used to revisit and reevaluate Braverman’s deskilling thesis.

Second, the research is used to support the development of a more nuanced definition of

skill. As will be illustrated later, the concept of skill is far from settled and requires

further discussion. This is even more the case as we move forward into the “knowledge-

based economy” where concepts of skill and knowledge begin to overlap. Third, the

findings are used as the basis for critical reflection on the Essential Skills program.

1.4 RESEARCH DESIGN

As was previously mentioned, this project was one of several conducted within a

larger research group. Because of this, the area of study and type of investigation put

forth were carefully negotiated. There were many issues to consider in developing the
 7

thesis. First, the study had to consider the ES program, and the findings had to relate back

to this government program. The research should foster the ability to understand the work

and objectives of the program, to discuss its strengths and its shortcomings, and provide

feedback to the program coordinators. Second, any projects developed or proposed by the

team members should as much as possible involve the community partners. Third, the

design of the research program had to satisfy my own self-interest as a sociologist, while

also building on the strengths of my supervisor, committee members, and fellow

researchers. Bearing these factors in mind, it was decided, with the aid of my supervisor

and the research team, that my research would involve the investigation of bakery

workers in a retail co-op. The exploration of this occupation would allow for an inventory

of skills to be conducted and compared to the ES program, engage closely with our

community partner, and provide a platform for sociological investigation into the roles of

technologies in the redesign of work processes.

1.5 METHODOLOGY

To address the multiple objectives noted above, this research project utilizes a

qualitative research approach. There are several theoretical and practical reasons for

selecting a qualitative research strategy. First, the methods used by qualitative researchers

demonstrate a shared belief that a deeper understanding of social phenomena can be

garnered than would be possible using solely quantitative methods (Silverman, 2001).

The use of qualitative methods allows one to study the many dimensions of social life,

including the experiences of everyday life, and (potentially) the actions, perceptions and

beliefs of research participants (Mason, 2002). Further, qualitative research can give the
 8

researcher perspective on the meaning and importance of relationships, social processes,

and institutions, and how they work (Mason, 2002). Second, and practically speaking,

because of the focus on bakers, bakery workers, and managers, the sample for this

research project is small. This limited sample does not lend itself to the use of standard

quantitative methods.

1.6 METHODS

Investigation into the baking industry requires research at multiple sites in order

to understand how the impact of technologies on skills might be context dependent. The

use of several different research sites provides evidence useful for contributing to the

ongoing debate regarding changes in skills, deskilling, and reskilling. To gain an

understanding of the skills required and utilized by bakers, research has taken place in the

bakery at a retail grocery store that is part of the Saskatoon Co-operative Association.

The Co-op bakery was the primary research site. Investigations at two large-scale

industrial baking facilities serve as secondary sites for comparison and to supplement the

findings at the Co-op bakery. Permission to study the Co-op bakery was attained via the

relationship developed through the “Thought for Food: Essential Skills and Food System

Performance” research project.

A two-pronged research approach was employed within the Co-op bakery. First,

non-participant observation of the work environment took place. The intent of this

observation was to inventory the skills exhibited by food-workers throughout the course

of their workday and work week, and to compare these to the skills outlined by the ES

program. This also presented an opportunity to observe, document, and analyze the
 9

various types of material technology used in the baking process in a commercial, semi-

industrial environment. This phase of the research utilized an ethnographic approach,

where the goal was to describe the methods used by employees and to begin to

understand their choices with respect to practices that they deploy. Second, I conducted

with the personnel working in the baking facility. My purpose with the interviews was to

gain an appreciation of how the employees view their roles in the baking/work process.

Further, these interviews aided in understanding to what degree these workers are

involved in decision-making processes with regard to both management of their own

work and future developments (including technology and product choices) in the bakery.

Also, I structured the interviews in an attempt to uncover the level of autonomy these

workers have in completing their tasks, an important aspect of skill. In addition, the

interviews assist in revealing the intentions and goals of these food workers and how they

view their future as bakers.

Fortunately, there was also an opportunity to interview managers at the Co-op.

The principal purpose of such interviews was to discover more about the decision-making

process with respect to technological adoption. I used these interviews to bring a

historical context to the study. In the case of long-serving managers, they provide insight

into how the bakeries in Co-op grocery stores may have changed over time. My

interviews with management also provide perspective on the training methods and

programs offered by the Co-op for their bakers. Lastly, the inclusion of managers at the

bakery and the store in the study also makes it possible to crosscheck and corroborate

worker perspectives on these work processes, technology, and skills and training.
 10

In addition to the study of the in-store bakery, the research has a secondary focus

on the supply-chain affecting the Co-op. Broadening the research focus to include the

managerial structure of Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) allowed for the

development of a more in-depth case study.4 The project’s research partnership with the

manager of the retail Co-op afforded the opportunity to conduct an interview with the

bakery manager at FCL. FCL is the wholesale co-operative that provides groceries,

inputs, technical support, and management advice to “retail” co-operatives such as the

Saskatoon Co-operative Association, of which the retail Co-op outlet under study is a

part. My intent of this interview was to uncover the rationales used by managers as they

make decisions about the technologies to be promoted in retail grocery outlets. Further,

through this interview, I sought to gain an understanding of the level of commitment FCL

has with respect to the skills of their own employees. This interview provided a window

on the processes underlying technological change and the redesign of bakeries and work

routines.

The spirit of collaboration runs deep within the co-operative structure, and it was

through the manager at FCL that I was able to visit two industrial bakeries in western

Canada. The two industrial facilities both serve as suppliers to co-operative retailers in

western Canada. At the start of the project, the intention was to follow approximately the

same research program in these facilities as the one utilized in the retail Co-op bakery.

That is a mixed-methodological approach, including observation and interviews, was

proposed for these facilities. In the first instance, observation of the bread-making

4
My discussion surrounding Federated Co-operatives Limited pertains to their influence over the bread-
making process at the Saskatoon Co-op. Readers looking for a more comprehensive understanding of FCL
are encouraged to read Living the Dream: Membership and Marketing in the Co-operative Retailing System
by Brett Fairbairn (2003).
 11

process in these facilities was undertaken. The scale and characteristics of the

technologies being used are compared to the types of technology being used in the in-

store bakery at the Co-op. In addition, the tasks being done by workers in this facility are

compared to those undertaken by the bakers observed in the Co-op. To complement the

observations, it was intended that interviews would be conducted with managers of the

facilities. The intent of these interviews was to uncover the motives for the adoption of

the technologies already in place, as well as what future changes they anticipate. The

initial hypothesis was their decisions might reflect greater concern for control, flexibility,

cost, and food safety. Further, the intent of interviews with these managers was to

uncover how technological innovations come to be in the facility, that is whether they are

the product of in-house research, or adopted from other sources such input-supplying

firms or research at academic institutions. The purpose of the research at the industrial

bakeries is to cultivate an understanding of the scale of technological advancement in the

food industry; and as well to provide some more concrete evidence about the structure of

the food industry. However, while the managers of these facilities were genuinely

hospitable in allowing site visits/tours, they did not commit to any long-term

investigation. Further, tape-recorded interviews with the managers were not agreed to,

and the timeframe granted to me did not allow for in-depth discussions.

Academics have argued that the new economy is characterized by decreasing

skills for some segments of the workforce, while other sectors are experiencing

increasing skills and higher demand. Bearing this in mind a further aspect of the research

includes an investigation of the work done by individuals responsible for the production

of the bakery mixes used by the Co-op. Here, the proposed research was to include
 12

observations and interviews. However, due to the current circumstances, only an

interview with the manager in charge of production was permitted. At the time of the

research the facility I had intended to investigate went through a change in ownership.

The once locally owned facility was sold to an international concern, which was far less

open to the research.5 As a result research at the facility was limited to an interview with

the milling manager. The interview focused on the technologies used in milling and how

they have affected the milling process over time. Using the findings from this interview

alongside the findings in the baking facilities enhances our understanding of the scientific

thinking, the science, and the commercial logics that underlie the development of new

baking technologies.

Because the effects of technological change are context dependent, research at

several different sites is helpful. Comparing the findings at the three different research

sites reveals more about how technologies are affecting skills and workplace

arrangements. Observation and research at the Co-op, their wholesale supplier, and the

industrial bakeries, provides some indication of whether or not there is significant

deskilling occurring in the food industry, particularly as applied to baking. The interviews

with workers and managers at these three sites fostered an understanding of the extent to

which issues of control are affecting the skills of workers. These three environments give

perspective on the structure of work in the food industry, technological developments in

baking, and the impact on the skills of bakers.

5
Due to time and funding constraints I was unable to find a suitable replacement facility.
 13

2.0 THE FOOD INDUSTRY

2.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF BREAD

Bread is central to the diets of many people worldwide. Wheat has been found in

archaeological sites that date back 8,000 years; the earliest known milling stone is 7,500

years old; and British museums display Egyptian loaves that are 5,000 years old.6 It is

suspected that most early hunting and gathering tribes would simply chew their cereals,

but people soon discovered that by using stones to pulverize the grain, they were able to

create a paste that would harden when set over fire and keep for several days.7 This

procedure yielded the most primitive form of flat bread. Leavened bread was most likely

developed by accident, when the crushed grain was accidentally exposed to bacterial

yeast cultures. It was not until approximately 1,000 BC that Egyptians were able to

isolate yeast and add it directly to their breads.8

In early Mediterranean societies baking emerged as a trade (McCance &

Widdowson, 1956). The skill set of bakers at the time also including the milling of grains.

Gradually, as the demand for breads increased, the responsibility of milling was removed

from the bakery and became a separate enterprise. Larger milling operations were

developed, moving away from manual production to the use of large stones powered by

wind or water (McCance & Widdowson, 1956). As use of these new technologies

emerged, millers, at the behest of bakers, began to produce white flour for fancy baking.

White flour was more expensive and its use became a sign of wealth and position, a

perspective that runs counter to modern impressions of white bread. Wholemeal breads in

the 1600s came to symbolize simpler times and more rustic diets. The cultural statuses

6
http://www.botham.co.uk/bread/history1.htm
7
http://www.breadinfo.com/history.shtml
8
http://www.breadinfo.com/history.shtml
 14

associated with white bread made from wheat (high social standing) and brown breads

typically made from rye and barley (low social standing) continued throughout medieval

times, through to the early 1700s in England. Many doctors near the end of this time

frame still considered white bread to be more nutritious (McCance & Widdowson, 1956).

Bread production remained the domain of the local baker into and throughout the

Industrial Revolution (McCance & Widdowson, 1956). Most people during this time still

shopped for their bread at small bakeries embedded in the community. The only other

source for bread during this time was the home. While the scale of bread production

facilities grew throughout the 20th century, it was not until the development of the

Chorleywood Bread Process in the early 1960s that baking was radically altered (Cauvain

& Young, 2006). Bread, particularly leavened bread, requires a period of fermentation to

allow the yeast to interact with the sugars. This interaction results in the release of carbon

dioxide, which gets trapped in the dough and causes the dough to rise. This process

typically takes several hours, and the longer the bread ferments the more rich the flavour

becomes. For example, most sour dough breads are made from a blend of fresh dough

and dough left over from the previous day’s work; the sour taste is a result of the

extended fermentation period.

The Chorleywood Bread Process, developed by the British Baking Industries

Research Association (BBIRA), was in part a reaction on the part of millers in the United

Kingdom who were seeking to protect their market share. The Weston Company of

Britain had taken to importing wheat from Canada because of its superior qualities for

making bread (Cauvain & Young, 2006). Canadian wheat worked well with the

continuous mixers manufactured in North America and imported into Britain. In contrast,
 15

wheat from the United Kingdom worked poorly in the North American machinery

resulting in bread with a weak structure (Cauvain & Young, 2006). However, the North

American technologies still relied on long fermentation processes, typically two to three

hours. Reducing the time to produce a loaf became the focus of the BBIRA, along with

making it possible to develop quality bread using UK wheat. The research team found

that they were able to produce a loaf equal in quality by using high-powered mixers

operating at higher speeds. The higher speeds would aid in triggering the interaction

between the sugars and yeast, producing dough that would rise in a fraction of the time

(Cauvain & Young, 2006). The use of these high-speed mixers is what is now known as

the Chorleywood Bread Process.

This experimentation led to other developments that would aid in expediting the

bread making process. The advent of the Chorleywood Bread Process led to the increased

inclusion of improvers, the most widely used of these being ascorbic acid (Cauvain &

Young, 2006). These developments have benefited the companies that develop

improvers, as their research has led to the greater use of non-traditional ingredients such

as enzymes, which also accelerate the fermentation process. In North America, where the

Chorleywood Bread Process is not the dominant bread production method, the

technological development has still had a major impact. The conditioners and additives

associated with the method have become increasingly common in bread making

processes.

The Chorleywood Bread Process is now used to produce approximately 80

percent of the world’s commercially produced bread (Cauvain & Young, 2006). The

scale of the Chorleywood Bread Process has also resulted in a concentration of bread
 16

manufacturing. The size of the equipment, which has increased over time, requires

immense amounts of capital. These factors, along with market pressures surrounding the

consolidation and growth of retail grocers, are contributing to the concentration of the

bread sector (Lawrence, 2004). In Canada, two firms, Weston’s and Canada Bread,

dominate the industry. Classified as wholesale bakeries by Agriculture and Agri-Food

Canada, these companies account for 81 percent of the wholesale bread market9.

Canadian wholesale bakeries shipped $2.3 billion of products in 1997.10

In Britain, two thirds of all commercially manufactured bread is produced by two

firms, British Bakeries and Allied Bakeries (Lawrence, 2004). The industry is also seeing

rapid globalization, as Canada Bread has recently acquired Harvestime, a bread company

located in the UK.11 As a result of these changes, the vast majority of breads that

consumers see on supermarket shelves are made at a handful of factories using variations

on one industrial method (Lawrence, 2004). As Felicity Lawrence remarks, “perhaps we

instinctively know this, (w)e spend on average less than one minute in the bread aisle

when we shop” (2004: 104).

2.2 THE INTERNATIONAL GROCERY MARKET

Understanding the changes happening in the bakery industry requires an

understanding of the retail food sector. Changes in retail structure have profound impacts

on the type of products demanded and the methods by which food is produced. Between

1999 and 2000, food sales in Europe grew an estimated 5.4 percent from ! 730.7 billion

to ! 796.6 billion (Perkins, 2001). The four big markets of France, the United Kingdom,

9
Alberta Government -
10
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
11
bakeryandsnacks.com
 17

Germany and Italy represented 64.5 percent of sales in the year 2000 (Perkins, 2001).

However, sales in these countries have been stagnant, with either little growth, or in the

case of Germany a decline in sales. In contrast, several other countries are emerging as

fast-growing markets. In the period between 1995 and 1999, Hungary and Poland

demonstrated the most substantial growth at 102.2 percent and 90.2 percent respectively

(Perkins, 2001). These countries were followed by the Czech Republic, Portugal, Ireland,

and Greece, all of which exhibited five-year growth rates between 31 percent and 42

percent (Perkins, 2001). Within these national markets, there is a distinct amount of

variation with respect to market concentration. Typically, the more established markets

exhibit higher levels of concentration, while the emerging markets are more diffuse. For

example, the most concentrated market is Norway, where the top five grocers capture as

much as 98.3 percent of food retail sales. This figure can be contrasted with Poland,

where the comparable figure measures at only 10.6 percent (Perkins, 2001). However,

even in countries where the food sector is considered less mature, development of

hypermarkets (big box retail outlets combining a department store and supermarket) on

the part of trans-national corporations is moving ahead rapidly (Perkins, 2001).

The European grocery market has been bustling with mergers, expansions, and

strategic alliances. In 2000, French retailer Carrefour solidified its position as the number

one grocer in Europe when it merged with Promodès (Higgins, 2001). The move, at the

time, also gave Carrefour the distinction of being the world’s leading global retailer in

terms of global reach. In particular, the merger strengthened Carrefour’s position in Latin

America where the merged entity became the number one supermarket retailer in Brazil

and Argentina (Hendrickson et al., 2001). Despite Carrefour’s growth through mergers,
 18

Wal-Mart, because of its strong United States base, retained their position as the world’s

leading retailer with respect to sales (Higgins, 2001). The Carrefour-Promodès merger

has resulted in European sales of ! 53.8 billion in 2000, which represents a 6.8 percent

market share (Perkins, 2001). The merger was not the only action taken by Carrefour in

2000. Three separate acquisitions in Italy, Belgium, and Greece increased their number of

retail outlets by 1,594, representing sales of ! 10.6 billion (Perkins, 2001). Within the

European market, Carrefour’s closest competitor is Tesco, whose European sales stood at

! 35.6 billion, a 4.5 percent share of the market. The continuing process of mergers and

expansion have likely resulted in further market share growth for these two firms, as well

as a select few others.

With respect to competition between Tesco and Carrefour, looking solely at the

European market does not present the full picture of the reach of these two food retail

giants. These European retailers are developing genuinely global operations. Both of the

aforementioned companies have plans to enter the Japanese and Chinese markets, or have

already done so (Higgins, 2001). A major player amongst European grocers, Delhaize,

has recently consolidated its European and American operations (Perkins, 2001). Another

significant global player in the grocery market is European-based Ahold. Recent

acquisitions in Scandinavia and Spain, and a planned entry into the United Kingdom,

have bolstered Ahold’s European presence (Perkins, 2001). What separates Ahold from

its European counterparts though is the presence of the company in the Americas. Not

only have they established themselves in Central America through acquiring La Fragua,

but they are also a major player in the United States (Higgins, 2001). The bulk of Ahold’s

retail sales are in fact generated in the United States where they are the number three
 19

player in the market (Perkins, 2001). While the strength of these retailers is formidable, it

is interesting to note that a merger between either two of Ahold, Tesco, and Carrefour

would only close the gap between them and Wal-Mart (Perkins, 2001).

The United States food market in 1998 was worth approximately $920 billion, of

which 80 per cent of sales were through traditional supermarkets and food stores

(Kaufman, 2000). Throughout the 1990s, there were significant changes in market

concentration. Between 1992 and 1999 the leading grocer was Kroger. In 1992 their sales

were $22.1 billion representing a 7.7 percent market share, numbers that had increased to

$45.4 billion and 12.5 percent by 1999 (Wrigley, 2001). By 1999, however, other

retailers had made a move on their position. Most notably, at that time Albertson’s, the

second largest retailer, had more than tripled their sales and market share to $37.6 billion

and 10.3 percent respectively (Wrigley, 2001). In addition to Alberston’s gains, several

new retailers emerged in the top six American supermarket chains. As mentioned earlier,

Ahold established their American presence during the 1990s. As of 1999, Ahold USA

sales totaled $20.3 billion for a 5.6 percent market share (Wrigley, 2001). Delhaize

America rounded out the top six with total sales of $14.4 billion for a 4.0 percent market

share (Wrigley, 2001).

The most significant change in American grocery retailing, however, has been the

entrance of Wal-Mart. In 1992, they were absent from the list of the top six food retailers,

but by 1999 they were the number five retailer with sales of $19.8 billion and a 5.5

percent market share (Wrigley, 2001). Even more startling is that by 2004 Wal-Mart had

increased their share of United States grocery sales to 19 percent, with that share

expected to increase to 35 percent by 2008 (Turock and Rogers, 2005). To give some
 20

additional perspective on these figures, at the end of 2004 there was a Wal-Mart

Supercenter12 for every 200,000 residents of the United States. With planned openings,

by 2008 the ratio is expected to decline to one store for every 114,000 Americans

(Turock and Rogers, 2005). Each of these retail outlets generates approximately $780,000

weekly on food sales alone (Turock and Rogers, 2005).

2.3 THE CANADIAN RETAIL PICTURE

In order to understand how the context of baking may be changing, it is important

to understand the structure of the food marketplace. In the 2004 fiscal year, Canada’s

retail food industry recorded sales growth of 3.5 percent, with grocery sales totaling

$67.9 billion (Tutunjian, 2005). Corporate-owned supermarkets and convenience stores

accounted for 60.7 percent of this market (Tutunjian, 2005). Corporate retail chains

increased their market presence through new openings, adding over 100 outlets (1,887

stores in 2004 as opposed to 1,785 stores in 2003) (Tutunjian, 2005). The increasing

presence of corporate chains has continued to have an impact on independent retailers.

Unaffiliated independents lost 256 outlets (dropping from 9,521 stores to 9,265), and saw

their market share decrease to 4.6 percent from 4.9 percent, with $3.1 billion in sales

(Tutunjian, 2005). Voluntary group stores, or affiliated independents, saw their market

share remain unchanged at 34.7 percent, with sales of $23.6 billion dollars (Tutunjian,

2005).

Within Canada, Loblaw remains the dominant grocery chain with an estimated 18

percent market share. Wal-Mart is a distant second with 7.7 percent of the market (Love,

2004). However, growth in grocery retail does not favour traditional grocery retailers. In
12
Wal-Mart Supercenters are only one of the types of retail outlets utilized by Wal-Mart in selling food.
 21

addition to Wal-Mart, mounting market pressures are coming from other discount food

retailers such as Price Choppers and No Frills, as well as alternative shopping formats

such as Costco (Love, 2004; Turock and Fitzgerald, 2004). In addition, the move of non-

traditional mass merchandise retailers into the grocery market is affecting the market.

Shoppers Drug Mart’s inclusion of groceries along with sales of their traditional products

has been very successful, as they, along with Wal-Mart, are the only grocery suppliers

whose sales are growing (Love, 2004).

As a relatively mature and slow-growth industry in terms of overall sales, food

retailers have been driven to expansion, increasing both the size and number of stores, in

their attempts to gain market share (Kaufman, 2000). The expansion drive is founded on

the rationale that increased size leads to greater economies of scale (Kaufman, 2000). In

particular, the increased size of the retailer allows for the opportunity or potential to

purchase goods and equipment at a lower cost. “Retailers believe that they can decrease

costs through supply-chain management practices—coordinated activities that generate

operating, procurement, marketing, and distribution efficiencies” (Kaufman, 2000: 19). In

addition, transnational food retailers often seek to centralize management and control at

corporate headquarters (Kaufman, 2000). This move is frequently associated with

standardization of in-store activities to create a brand identity and maximize retail shelf-

space, as store brands offer better profit margins. Large retailers typically employ

information technologies to monitor store sales and volumes, so as to better coordinate

their distribution. The availability of timely, accurate, and detailed information at head-

offices allows for effective control of operations over large geographic areas (Kaufman,
 22

2000). The consolidation of retail grocers also allows for greater market efficiencies in

purchasing products from suppliers (Kaufman, 2000).

The consolidation of national and transnational retailers combined with the push

towards developing their own private label, national store brands, has led to a situation

where national retailers are challenging the market power of large grocery products

manufacturing and processing firms (Hendrickson et al., 2001). Hendrickson et al. (2001)

illustrate the implications of national branding through a case study of the American

dairy industry. Establishing a national brand requires huge supplies of product, provided

to a uniform standard. Local and regional processors cannot meet these product demands.

This situation has led some retailers to integrate their grocery operations vertically by

developing their own processing facilities (Hendrickson et al. 2001). Large retailers

continually exhibit support for the dominant economic ideology of the large agribusiness

firms and of agricultural economists who argue that increased size and market-share

constitute a natural evolution (Hendrickson et al., 2001). The changes that result from

horizontal and vertical integration tend to shut out small-scale processors and producers.

Retailers have found themselves in a new position within the power relations of the food

economy. Where in the past the fragmented nature of the industry led to relative balance

between retailers, processors, and producers, the consolidation of grocers has given them

the ability to dictate terms to food manufacturers. In turn, this has resulted in a processing

industry that serves, first and foremost, the interests of food retailers rather than the

interests of farmers, workers, or consumers (Hendrickson et al., 2001).

The implications of consolidation and expansion in the food industry necessitate a

discussion of globalization. Globalization can be a rather broad, nebulous concept that

 23

incorporates economics, politics, culture, and knowledge components (Coleman, 2004).

Further, changes in these components have elements of extensity (degree of geographical

reach), intensity (changes in magnitude), and velocity (the speed of changes) (Coleman,

2004). In a food context, Friedland defines globalization as “the process by which…

commodities move into longer and more complex chains” (2004: 5). This appears to

equate globalization with global sourcing and truly multi-national, corporate controlled

networks for the procurement, transformation, and marketing of particular agri-food

commodities. Consolidation of the food system at production, manufacturing, wholesale

and retail levels has a direct effect on food sector workers through the development and

adoption of new production technologies. The focus of this study is to investigate the

changing structure of work in an increasingly concentrated and vertically

coordinated/integrated industry. In particular, this project focuses on the work performed

by individuals involved in the baking process, and the skills required by those workers.
 24

3.0 PERSPECTIVES ON TECHNOLOGY

3.1 THEORIES OF TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

While this study focuses in part on the effects of new technologies in the

workplace, it is important to understand technology from a broader perspective.

Advanced technologies have radically altered our existence by changing how we interact

with the environment, how we relate to others, and how we reflect upon our own

existence. In his well-received book Technopoly, Neil Postman argues that technologies

now permeate our existence:

New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think
about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with.
And they alter the nature of community: the arena in which thoughts
develop. (1992: 20)

Postman hypothesizes that with respect to technology, there have been three kinds

of cultures: tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies (1992). Tool-using

cultures represent situations where tools are used to solve specific and urgent problems of

physical life but tools do not intrude on the beliefs of the groups (Postman, 1992). In

other words, tools are integrated into the culture in a manner that does not disrupt or

contradict the worldview of the people. Technocracy reflects a culture where tools come

to play a more central role in the thought world (Postman, 1992). According to Postman,

it is technocracy that gives us the idea of progress and necessarily loosens our bonds with

tradition, whether spiritual or political (1992). In effect, as culture adopts a technocratic

demeanour, various traditions are subordinated but not completely displaced. Postman

attributes this development to the fact that during the reign of technocracy, industrialism

was still too new a concept; people were accepting of the benefits the new worldview

offered but reluctant to wholly relinquish past traditions.

 25

Postman argues that a technopoly is essentially a totalitarian technocracy, which

makes previous thought-worlds invisible (1992). To clarify, he does not argue that the

development of a technopoly makes other ways of knowing illegal, immoral, or

unpopular; rather a technopoly makes them irrelevant by redefining what we mean by

religion, art, family, politics, history, truth, privacy, and intelligence, so that our

definitions fit the requirements of an advanced technological society (Postman, 1992).

Relating his own taxonomy with Taylorism, Postman (1992) proposes that even though

his name and the specifics of his system are not as prominent, his ideas remain the

scaffolding of the present-day American Technopoly.

The work of Frederick Taylor in the early 20th century is often referred to as

scientific management, and is a set of production methods, tools and organizational

systems designed and implemented to increase the efficiency of factory production; a

rationalization of the labour process (Krahn & Lowe, 2002). Elements of this

rationalization include the shift of decision-making responsibility and control from

workers to management; the use of scientific methods to determine the most efficient

way of performing a job; providing the workers with a detailed description of how to

perform each step; and close monitoring of the workers’ performance (Krahn & Lowe,

2002). Taylor’s approach to the labour process revolves around the principles of reducing

worker autonomy, reducing their skills, and separating workers from the product of their

labour by minimizing their individual input into the end product. The removal of workers

from the decision-making process increases workplace hierarchies that contribute to class

divisions and power conflicts.

 26

Whether or not we have actually reached a state of technopoly, Postman’s work

highlights some of the core debates surrounding modern life. In the first instance,

Postman suggests that, for the most part, we have come to believe in the supreme

authority of science (1992). With respect to the flow of information, technopolies are

characterized by the legitimacy of ‘experts’ (Postman, 1992). Not only have we come to

rely on expert opinion in technical systems but also in our everyday lives; with respect to

such topics as raising children, making friends, and how to make love, as well as how to

make a meal or a decent loaf of bread. As our reliance on scientific ways of knowing and

expert knowledge increases, we find ourselves making only practical decisions, not moral

ones (Postman, 1992). In effect, a state of technopoly can “(subordinate) the claims of

our nature, our biology, our emotions, our spirituality” (Postman, 1992: 111).

As this paradigm permeates our culture, it is not hard to see how its doctrines and

decision-making structures can have an impact on the organization of occupations. In the

dominant economic system, the provision of rewarding work experiences for all

individuals is difficult to achieve as the abstract value of money supersedes the value of a

satisfying life for everyone. Because factories are organized in a way that views workers

as isolatable and interchangeable parts, industry generates deep alienation and bitterness

amongst workers (Postman, 1992). Technopoly fosters an environment that depends on

our belief that we are at our best when we act like machines which promotes a loss of

confidence in human judgment and subjectivity. “We have devalued the singular human

capacity to see things whole in all their psychic, emotional and moral dimensions, and we

have replaced this with faith in the powers of technical calculation” (Postman, 1992:

118). Postman summarizes his concerns by arguing that technopoly emphasizes progress
 27

without limits, rights without responsibilities, and technology without cost (1992).

Further, we must understand that “every technology is a product of a particular economic

and political context and carries with it a program, an agenda, and a philosophy that may

or may not be life-enhancing and that therefore require scrutiny, criticism, and control”

(Postman, 1992: 185).

Whether or not one is willing to fully adopt Postman’s taxonomy, he raises

critical issues that need to be addressed. Understanding the role of technologies in the

economy is now central to social theory (Wajcman, 2002). Increased automation of

production and the intensified use of the computer are revolutionary forces within the

economy, and alter the character of employment, as well as other social relationships

(Wajcman, 2002).

Some academics argue that technology exists as an external, autonomous force

capable of exerting an influence on society (Wajcman, 2002). This view is often termed

‘technological determinism’. A related way of viewing technology is technological

realism. This perspective holds that a technological object has inherent properties that act

as constraints on the observational accounts of said object (Hutchby, 2001). Some

scholars continue to take issue with both of these views. In particular, many feel that

being overly deterministic with respect to technology effectively narrows the possibility

for democratic engagement with technology (Wajcman, 2002). As with sociological

assessments of science, sociologists have come to recognize that a range of social factors

have a role in influencing the selection of technical options, such that technology is a

socio-technical product, “patterned by the conditions of its creation and use” (Wajcman,

2002: 351). Wajcman’s idea is close to the principle of technological constructivism,

 28

which holds that the reality of objects are an outcome of discursive practices in relation to

the technological object (Hutchby, 2001). The concepts of determinism and

constructivism are the foundations of a dialectic with respect to sociological studies of

technology. With these two poles in place, some researchers have attempted to develop

theories that reflect how determinism and constructivism operate either singularly or

interact in various ways. However, a problem with this approach is that in most cases the

relative importance of the two perspectives is seen to be dependent on the type of

technology, and how the user might interact with it.

Consider a basic example, the advent of refrigeration within industrial societies.

From a consumer/household perspective, refrigeration has allowed people to adjust their

consumption patterns by allowing individuals and families to purchase greater quantities

of goods and preserve them easily for a longer period of time. In addition, families are

able to package their leftovers to eat over the following days. In these instances, the

refrigerator is a modern convenience that can save families and individuals time by

reducing shopping trips, as well as through being able to build some stock of prepared

meals (not to mention the ability to stock a freezer with local foods or with heavily

processed TV dinners). From an industrial perspective, refrigeration has led to the

expansion of the international food web. At the most basic level, this technology allows

producers to ship perishable produce over longer distances. At a more industrial level,

recent developments in bread making, such as frozen loaves to be baked in-store, are

allowing some bread companies to expand their market share. These loaves are partially

prepared and then flash-frozen for shipping in refrigerated trucks. Developments such as

this have also been passed along to consumers who can buy the frozen loaves and take
 29

them home to their own freezers to bake later. From this example we can see that for

individuals refrigeration has meant increased convenience, while for corporations it has

meant an ability to increase market share and product offerings.

Hutchby’s theory of technology is that technologies should be treated as a form of

text, which he terms affordances (2001). These affordances take into account the

functional nature of a technology while also considering the relations that occur with

respect to that technology. In this way, Hutchby claims that technologies can be

“understood as artefacts which may be both shaped and shaping of the practices humans

use in interaction with, around and through them” (Hutchby, 2001: 444). In some

respects, Hutchby draws this perspective from Grint and Woolgar (1995) who suggest

that technologies are texts that are written by developers, producers, and marketers and

subsequently read by users and consumers (Hutchby, 2001). Effectively, there are wide

range of social relationships involved in the development and interpretation of

technology. However, the perspective of Grint and Woolgar tends to over-emphasize the

role of social actors with respect to technology. By introducing the affordance concept,

Hutchby attempts to foreground the fact that technologies have properties that constrain

the way they can be written or read (2001). These constraints can take different forms,

such as physical constraints resulting from the design of a technology (Hutchby, 2001).

Hutchby notes that there are social norms and conventional rules that impact how

a technology might be read or understood (2001). Consider how increased

industrialization of the food chain has altered consumption patterns such that shopping by

automobile has become a near necessity. Industrialized production and processing

combined with packaging and advertising/promotions have profoundly altered the way
 30

we shop for food. In many instances, it has become the norm to purchase goods in case-

lots. One only has to look at the burgeoning popularity of warehouse retailers such as

Costco, Wal-Mart, and Superstore, to see that social norms and economic incentives push

us toward the purchase and consumption of goods in large quantities to achieve savings.

Packaging and price-conscious consumers contribute to an environment where grocery

shopping is best done by automobile. Pulling up to the supermarket in a car is a social

norm. Bicycling to the grocery store makes little sense given normal, or socially

accepted, patterns of consumption, patterns of urban settlement, and the location

decisions of retailers.

Hutchby’s work has not escaped critique. In clarifying Hutchby’s position,

Rappert asserts that affordances are the perceived properties of an object that suggest, but

do not necessarily determine, how that technological object might be used (2003).

Further, this is not a completely novel approach to the study of technology. Since the

1990s, self-identified social constructivists have sought to move away from grand

theorizing about technology and instead focus on the ways in which actors actively make

sense of, and contribute to, the development of technologies (Rappert, 2003). Many

sociologists before Hutchby have sought to find a middle ground between technological

determinism and constructivism. Indeed, most of the constructivist literature has

understood technology as configured by and configuring, affected by and affecting,

shaped by and shaping society (Rappert, 2003). Rappert further argues that the

technology as a text metaphor is misplaced and misleading. He suggests that Hutchby’s

affordance perspective, drawing on the notion of technology as a text, does not offer

much help with respect to elaborating on the social implications of technology, or the
 31

inter-relatedness of the technological and the social (Rappert, 2003). The issue in this

regard is that by emphasizing the affordances of a specific technology, it becomes less

possible to develop a more robust theory of the social implications of technology.

While many sociologists continue to stress the importance of the human actor in

science and technology studies, others focus more on the importance of the material

technologies themselves. Pickering (1993) indicates that current critiques of science and

technology studies reflect an increasingly widespread conviction that analysis should

approach a decentering of the human subject, a post-humanist investigation (1993). In

addition, Pickering advocates that we should attempt to understand scientific practice in

its temporal unfolding, or its context (1993). These two perspectives point toward the

development of a sociology of science and technology that considers, to some extent, that

there are nonhuman actors or agents to account for when discussing technology. Or in

other words, according to Pickering (1993) science and technology are contexts in which

human agents do not make all the decisions; a material agency exists such that

technological objects have an ability to affect the social world. Pickering states,

“technology…can be seen as a realm of instruments, devices, machines, and substances

that act, perform, and do things in the material world” (1993: 563).

The effects of these objects on the material world in turn have an impact on how

we relate to the material world and the others we share it with. In a Prairie context,

consider the tractor and combine. The impacts that these technologies had on farming

were not limited to how fieldwork was done. They also altered social, economic, and

demographic characteristics of agricultural communities. The introduction of these

technologies effectively meant that fewer people could farm larger tracts of land. Those
 32

taking advantage of these technological advances were able to out compete their

neighbors, thus driving them to urban environments to seek employment.

Pickering is careful not to place material agency in the same class as human

agency. Human actors differ from material actors because our actions have intent

whereas technologies do not (Pickering, 1993). In an attempt to formulate a middle

ground between determinism and constructivism, Pickering argues that material and

human agencies are “mutually and emergently productive of one another” (1993: 567).

The relationship between humans and technologies should be framed in a context of

resistance and accommodation. Pickering (1993) speaks of the dialectic of resistance and

accommodation as the “mangle”. Within the mangle, material agency emerges in part

because technologies are never perfectly tuned; they are typically flawed despite the best

intentions of the creator (Pickering, 1993). Resistance represents the intersection of

material and human agency, and it is at this juncture where human actors must

accommodate the technology (Pickering, 1993). The mangle is a continuous process. We

are always making sense of and responding to technologies. In some cases we might opt

to improve technologies and in other instances we might decide that it is best to leave the

technology behind us. While Pickering’s view does not constitute a new perspective on

technology and our relationship with it, it does present an alternative approach to framing

the dialectic.

An example from another part of the food industry helps to illustrate Pickering’s

perspective. In a study done in the early 1990s, Joel Novek investigated differences

between two meatpacking facilities. Novek notes that the meatpacking industry in North

America has long been characterized by mass production methods, utilizing specialized
 33

machinery and semi-skilled labour (1992). In the older of the two plants in the study,

animals were slaughtered in a multi-level facility: the killing and first cuts were done on

the top floor, and subsequent butchering would occur on the lower levels. This setup

effectively meant that gravity feed chutes could be used to transfer the product to the next

level. In addition, the old plant exhibited less specialized labour compared to the newer

facility; that is workers were generally responsible for more types of cuts (Novek, 1992).

The newer facility was a single story operation, which relied more on conveyors to

transfer product from station to station. Workers in this facility were also less likely to be

required to make multiple cuts; rather they were typically expected to make only one type

of cut as the meat passed them on the conveyors (Novek, 1992).

Many experienced workers at the new facility saw this change in the work process

as a slight on their abilities. The greater use of conveyors in this facility became a focus

for resistance for workers, many whom were not comfortable with aspects of this new

arrangement. Unfortunately, accommodation was difficult to achieve given the nature of

the industry, which was hard-pressed to regain acceptable levels of profitability given

intensified competition. Workers attempted to control the pace of the line through

sabotage and other means. They also exerted pressure through their union to try to

reestablish responsibility for multiple cuts. The factories, however, were designed to

minimize the tasks performed by employees and their autonomy. As Novek states, “the

new plants enable corporate management to strengthen control of the labour process, to

step up the pace of output” (1992: 27). Eventually, experienced and skilled workers either

quit, retired, or were laid off, and were replaced by younger and relatively unskilled

workers, who were hired at significantly lower rates of pay (Novek, 1992). This example
 34

demonstrates the resistance, although unsuccessful, that may occur when technology and

people intersect. However, in some regards, it also reveals the basic limitation of

Pickering’s theory, in that the resistance in this example has an added human relations

component. In this meat-packing example, the implementation and control of the

conveyor lines were management prerogatives. With this example in mind, I turn to the

role of technology in organizations.

Within both sociology and management literature, there is another body of work

that investigates the impacts of technologies in the workplace. In focusing on the

application of technologies in the workplace, researchers are able to add more concrete

evidence to their arguments regarding the role of technologies and how they reflect

power relationships. The ability to observe how certain actors within organizations react

to change allows us to understand the impacts of technologies on the workers. In

addition, these studies demonstrate how technologies alter the social relations of

production.

Sociologists regard technology as an extension of science, whereas technology for

organizational researchers is commonly defined more narrowly as any process that

transforms inputs into outputs. This is seen as consisting of three major phases: input,

conversion, and output (Rousseau, 1979). Rousseau’s work raises several issues that

should be considered when investigating the technological processes used by a firm.

First, Rousseau argues that while input and output activities are distinct, they can be

understood based on their characteristics and control function (1979). Input

characteristics are the attributes of the materials used, as well as the people involved in

the organization, while output characteristics are the attributes of the output following
 35

conversion (Rousseau, 1979). Input control refers to the functions that influence the

availability and distribution of inputs in preparation for conversion (Rousseau, 1979).

Output control represents those mechanisms that influence the quantity or quality of

output released to the environment, for example quality control procedures. It is the

conversion process that should be the main focus for sociologists who wish to investigate

technology from a skills perspective.

The conversion process adds value to the inputs through the abilities and

capacities of both human operators and equipment (Rousseau, 1979). Rousseau argues

that the conversion process cannot be fully understood without taking the environment,

within which the process is taking place, into consideration. Rousseau believes that

“technology in organizations is greatly influenced by the environment, particularly

through its influence on input and output activities and on the types of technology

adopted by the organizations” (1979: 533). To return to our meatpacking example,

consider how the more extensive adoption of the conveyor technology in the newer plant

in Novek’s study was mostly a managerial reaction to a changing labour market

environment and the need to ensure profitability.

The influence of organizational peers on other firms, and of other environmental

pressures, should not be underestimated. Schilling notes that “where an entrenched

dominant standard exists, or where an industry is in the process of selecting a dominant

standard, firms may be at risk of being locked out of the market” (1998: 267). Lockout

can occur in at least two ways. In the first case a firm may find themselves producing a

product where there is no dominant design, and subsequently their product may be

rejected because the market shifts toward a dominant design unlike their product
 36

(Schilling, 1998). Second, a firm might find themselves locked out because they are

unable to produce or sell products conforming to the standard (Schilling, 1998). Firms

that are vertically integrated, or possess strategic alliances with producers and

distributors, may have a considerable advantage in establishing, or adjusting to, a

dominant technology. If a firm has power in this regard, it may have a significant impact

on what technologies are adopted, and in what time frame, thus gaining an important

market advantage (Schilling, 1998). Because of these power relations among firms,

companies may find themselves in a position where they are forced to adopt technologies

that have drastic impacts on their workforce in terms of size and skill levels. As an

example, most large players in the food industry rely on automated machinery and semi-

skilled labour to achieve large production quantities and reduce costs (van Donk, 2000).

The environments within which businesses and other organizations are operating,

make it difficult for workers to retain their skills. The principal actors in the production

process are employers and workers, and the interactions and negotiations between them

constitute the social relations of production (Gouliquer, 2000). Additionally, labour is the

component of the production process that is most flexible, and is subject to the control

and manipulation of managers and owners in order to achieve economic goals

(Gouliquer, 2000). There are varying perspectives on what flexibility means with respect

to employees. Some argue that flexibility can empower employees, providing them with

new skills and flattening organizational hierarchies.13 On the other hand, the discourse

about ‘new skills’ might only refer to the fact that employees are performing a greater

number of deskilled tasks (Gouliquer, 2000). The argument in the second case is that

flexibility is achieved on capital’s terms, leading to worker insecurity and exploitation,

13
Gouliquer draws this perspective from Brodsky (1994).
 37

particularly as new technologies replace the skilled tasks performed by experienced

employees (Gouliquer, 2000).

Gouliquer argues that there are two forms of flexibility, internal and external.

External flexibility refers to employment adjustments through means of layoffs,

contracting-out, flextime, or part-time employment (Gouliquer, 2000). Internal flexibility

is exhibited when a firm strives to increase output by improving efficiency and

productivity through the reorganization of jobs and the redesign of production processes

(Gouliquer, 2000). Technological change is primarily a component of internal flexibility.

The impact of technological changes on the production process and labour relations vary

from firm to firm due to the type of technology selected, why it is chosen, how it is

implemented, and who has control over the process (Gouliquer, 2000). Researchers argue

that, because the adoption of new technology is usually a managerial prerogative and

initiative, technological change has not been emancipatory or fulfilling for labour but

more restraining and dictatory (Gouliquer, 2000).

As firms continue to adopt new technologies, which are increasingly complex,

there is growing interest in how technologies relate to control within organizations. A

debate has emerged in the literature that is akin to the constructivism/realism dichotomy

discussed earlier. There are those who argue that technology determines organizational

structure and those believe that control imperatives determine technological choices

(Hachen, 1988). In both these cases, there is a question of causal links between

technology and control systems (Hachen, 1988). In investigating this relationship,

Hachen postulates that the relationship between these two aspects of the organization

should not be approached from a causal perspective. Instead he argues that technology
 38

and control should be considered together (Hachen, 1988). He further suggests that not

considering these two aspects of the organization in tandem may be problematic from a

managerial perspective, as altering one without the other may result in incompatibilities

(Hachen, 1988). Other factors affecting the relationship include the skill level of the

labour force and whether the control system is premised on monitoring employees for

punitive or reward purposes.

3.2 TECHNOLOGY AND THE FOOD INDUSTRY

It is appropriate to return to the discussion of bakers that was visited earlier in

Sennett’s example. Bread making is a complex industry that is reliant on the work of

chemists as much as bakers. In their 2004 study on the effects of surfactant gels on dough

characteristics, Azizi and Rao inadvertently demonstrate how technological processes

have altered bread making so that it now has little in common with traditional

conceptions of baking. The ingredients described in their work include glycerol

monostearate, sodium stearoyl-2-alactylate, as well as other chemicals, reagents, and

solvents (Azizi & Rao, 2004). Investigation of their samples included measuring the

colour of crumbs using a UV-visible spectrophotometer (Azizi & Rao, 2004). Their take

on bread making reads like industrial techno-science as opposed to the craft baking

described by Sennett when he first visited the bakery. Azizi and Rao employ advanced

technologies and computerized sensory equipment, whereas the bakers relied on their

physical senses. The conclusion of their study indicates, “generally surfactant gels

improved the fairnograph, extensograph, and aleveograph dough characteristics of wheat

flour” (Azizi & Rao, 2004: 551). These are not terms that would be utilized by a baker;
 39

rather it is the dialogue of an expert scientific community. Also notable is their

acknowledgement of the Central Food Technological Research Institute in India, who

provided the funding for their research.14

Concerns about the quality of breads go beyond the ingredients in the loaves

themselves. Extensive research is also conducted regarding the packaging used in

distribution and sale of their bakery products. In some cases, the motives for better

packaging revolves around health and safety, as high moisture bakery products have been

implicated in outbreaks of food borne illness (Smith et al., 2004). Baked goods

manufacturers are concerned with physical spoilage (staleness), chemical spoilage

(rancidity), and microbiological spoilage (bacterial, yeast, and mold spoilage) (Smith et

al., 2004). Processors have taken on these challenges by utilizing several novel

technologies including UV light treatments, infrared radiation, microwave heating, low

dose irradiation, and high-pressure technologies before, during, and after packaging

(Smith et al., 2004). Most recently firms have begun to adopt modified atmosphere

packaging, where the baked goods are packaged with gases such as ethanol and carbon

dioxide to counteract the different types of spoilage (Smith et al., 2004). Modified

atmosphere packaging is also known as active packaging, which is defined as “an

intelligent or smart system that involves interactions between package or package

components and food or internal gas atmosphere and complies with consumer demands

for high quality, fresh-like, and safe products” (Ozdemir & Floros, 2004: 185).

One item that should stand out as noteworthy in this definition is the term “fresh-

like.” This neologism highlights an important dynamic of the industrial food system.

14
Stephen Cotgrove (1970) argues that we need to be critically aware of the influence that funding bodies
can have on research and the findings that result from the funded work.
 40

Many technological innovations, such as refrigeration discussed earlier, have served to

expand the market boundaries of processors and grocery product manufacturers. In

addition, automated processing technologies have increased production capacities of

many firms further challenging them to expand their geographical reach. Fewer firms

with more centralized production in turn means that fresh is no longer an option. The best

they can strive for is a “fresh-like” product. This is an example of how supposed

technological advances affect our conceptions of food, as well as our consumption

practices.

Of course, these kinds of innovations in food technology are not confined to

baked goods. Writers for the industry journal Food Technology frequently advocate the

benefits of new and novel approaches to food handling. As one writer states, “food

problems…pose special challenges which food formulators through innovative

technologies, ingredients, and new approaches are working to overcome” (Pszczola,

2005: 53). Examples of the perceived problems being addressed include genetic altering

of corn to ensure the perfect popping kernel, gene sequencing of cattle to ensure tender

beef, removing the proteins in peanuts that cause allergies, use of synthetic ingredients to

make ‘healthier’ salad dressings, and engineering better artificial flavours by mimicking

human taste receptors in testing facilities (Pszczola, 2005). Another food technology

frontier is the use of probiotics, defined as the incorporation of microorganisms directly

into foods as a stable culture to improve gastrointestinal physiology and function

(Senorans, Ibanez & Cifuentes, 2003). Examples such as these illustrate the increasingly

techno-scientific orientation of the food system. The scientific food community

reinforces their position by arguing that consumer demands are driving these new
 41

developments (Senorans, Ibanez & Cifuentes, 2003; Ozdemir & Floros, 2004). However,

one must ask if these are the true demands of consumers, or are industrial food processors

and food scientists/technologists constructively misreading consumers? Given the choice

of purchasing ‘fresh-like’ bread or a truly wholesome, freshly baked loaf at

approximately the same cost, which would consumers choose?

It is important for industrial food processors to understand the importance of

consumer-driven product demand. As suggested by Sijtsema et al. “producers must

realize that the food supply chain has to become a food demand chain driven by

consumers’ priorities” (2002: 565). Understanding consumers is no easy task though,

particularly when considering food. Food has a biological nutritive function; quite

simply, we need food to live. However, food can have many additional functions. Food

can be a sign of status, exhibit magical properties, be rich in religious symbolism, and is a

central part of many social gatherings (Sijtsema et al., 2002). Food processors (in tandem

with marketers) strive to create these qualities in their product offerings such as

microwave-ready roasts, so that families can recreate the Sunday supper ritual in only

minutes. Food processors ignore the fact that the preparation of these foods is equally

important to the culture surrounding food. The communicative function of food does not

singularly occur during the eating of a meal. Moreover, communication in the kitchen

while preparing a meal may be even more important for passing on skills and traditions to

younger generations.

Industrial food technologies present many new challenges with respect to food in

terms of safety and quality. As Lupien declares, “the development and rapid growth of

food processing industries for fruits, vegetables, and animal products in Europe, North
 42

America, and other regions of the world, from the 1880s onward, caused concern about

the quality and safety of foods among consumers and legislators” (2005: 120). Areas of

concern included the use of food additives, food colours, agricultural chemicals, and

growth hormones for livestock (Lupien, 2005). The development of appropriate

responses with respect to safety issues continues to be at the forefront of much of the

discussion surrounding food. Many industry actors believe that the solutions to food

security issues lie in the increased application of expert/scientific knowledge and skills,

so that problems can be avoided (Lupien, 2005). Gareau (2004) argues that a lack of

appropriate technology can contribute to food insecurity, and policy formation needs to

address the need for suitable standards of production.

Given the capital necessary to meet expert-defined standards, policies addressing

safety may favour larger processors. For small- and medium-sized enterprises, a lack of

money, time, experience, access to information, support, and knowledge, can effectively

bar them from complying with new standards, thus forcing them out of the market (Yapp

& Fairman, 2006). Increased technical and technological standards favour large, well-

funded enterprises and promote a system that may cause as many problems as it claims to

solve. For example the conditions in industrial livestock and processing provide an ideal

environment for bacterial outbreaks. “Solutions” to these types of problems often

entrench and extend the dominant model of commercial and industrial food production,

but fail to address the root causes of the problems (which may include the size and type

of production). Lupien (2005) argues that controls should be in place to ensure food

safety, which requires, at all levels of the food chain, knowledge and skills to prevent a
 43

wide range of food problems. We can take this to include food workers, where it is

critical to acquire and retain skills in order to ensure high quality products.
 44

4.0 WORK AND SKILLS

4.1 THE LABOUR PROCESS

Understanding technological changes in the workplace, and their subsequent

effects on the skills of workers, requires a deeper understanding of the labour process.

Since the publication of Braverman’s Labour and Monopoly Capital, many social

scientists, economists, and academics studying management have focused their attention

on understanding and theorizing the labour process. There is general agreement amongst

this diverse group of scholars that a labour process is “a means by which objects, peoples,

tools, knowledge, and tasks are organized so that they are transformed into different

objects or services having some value for others” (Wardell, 1999: 4). However, the open-

endedness of this definition encompasses many divergent approaches to labour process

theory.

In assessing Braverman’s work, it is important to understand that he did not come

from an academic background. Before taking on editorial duties at a publishing house,

Braverman worked in various skilled metal trades. Because of this employment

background, Braverman’s book was substantially different from conventional approaches

to the sociology of work. Braverman was critical of the established academic approaches,

as well as the organization of work and the workplace. Braverman recognized that the

organization of the workplace represents a domain of life for an individual that is a key

force in the production and reproduction of class inequality (Wardell, 1999). This

approach to understanding work was not new. Stanley Udy (1970), for example, had

previously noted that work was simultaneously physical and social. Braverman put much

more emphasis on implications of the fact that work and workplace are embedded in the
 45

political-economic context of the capitalist employee relationship (Wardell, 1999).

Workers rely on employers for their livelihoods and their choices may be limited, while

employers have greater flexibility with respect to whom they hire. The relationship is

interdependent, but asymmetrical (Wardell, 1999). In Braverman’s view the plight of

workers is exacerbated by the emergence of stronger managerial control in the

workplace. Drawing on the insights of Karl Marx, Braverman saw capitalist managers,

whether owners or hired overseers, as motivated to extract the maximum amount of effort

from workers in order to increase profits. Braverman developed this argument with

reference to Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management. Braverman saw this

as a process of organizing work such that the conception of the task is separated from the

execution, with both knowledge and power thereby transferred to management (Smith,

1994; Wardell, 1999).

Wardell (1999) contends that an oversight of Braverman’s work is that the labour

process might be problematic for both employers and employees, and that there are

varying levels of conflict and co-operation between workers, managers, and owners

across various capitalist enterprises. Wardell argues that the labour process is structured

within four arenas of control, specific to particular work settings. The four arenas of

control are: 1) management; 2) social and technical relations in the workplace; 3) human

resources practices; and 4) industrial relations. He further notes that these arenas are

social arenas, where efforts are made to control the flow and outcomes of the production

process, and where actors express different, potentially conflicting, interests. The

management arena refers to the strategies employed by managers to maintain and develop

operations, which includes the views held by management regarding the roles and value
 46

of workers. The strategies involved would include Taylorism as an overall philosophy of

production management. The arena of social and technical relations encompasses job

design, the sequencing and regulating of tasks, type and use of technology, and work

arrangements (teams, shift work, contract work). These first two arenas closely fit

Braverman’s analysis and are frequently the focus of studies investigating the changing

skills (deskilling) of workers, as well as studies focused on worker resistance.

The other arenas, human resources and industrial relations, are often cited as areas

of investigation that were overlooked by Braverman. The human resources arena refers to

the jobs and skills training programs for workers, advancement opportunities,

compensation and benefits packages, and safeguards for employee rights (Wardell,

1999). Human resources has less to do with specific shop floor activity and more to do

with the overall behaviour of workers and fostering employee commitment with the goal

of improving job performance. The industrial relations arena refers to the formal relations

between management (who may also be owners) and workers, and how the latter are

represented (via employee associations, unions, work councils, and governments that

mediate). The absence of these areas of inquiry and analysis in Braverman’s work has

been cited as a shortcoming. Some commentators see the potential for employee unions

to resist the control practices of management as a major force opposing deskilling

(Wardell, 1999). Wardell’s work in highlighting these four arenas of the labour process

has given researchers a more structured framework with which to study the labour

process and to understand the roles of different actors when investigating the skills of

workers. His writing brings the relations of the people involved in the labour process to

the forefront of critical investigation.

 47

Keeping the relationships between actors at the forefront of research on the labour

process is important in order to better understand the changes that take place—or are

resisted. In an economic world dominated by managers seeking to maximize profits and

by consumers obsessed with finding bargains, we often forget about the impact that the

quest for “value” has on workers. Sometimes the value of labour gets lost in the

valorization of products and services, as labour is reduced to a unidimensional production

input (or factor) in the production process. For example, the labour cost of a baker is

considered only on a nominal basis, just like the cost for the flour needed to produce a

loaf. The capitalist labour process has been defined as a unification of the process of

production and the process of valorization (Cohen, 1987).

Valorization in the production process involves something more than assigning

value to a product or service, or the maintenance of the price over time. In the labour

process, valorization involves producing a product with use-value, exchange-value, and

surplus value (Steiger, 1999). Use-value is the particular use a good can be put to, or the

need it satisfies for a certain person or group of persons. Exchange value refers to the

monetary value of a product or commodity in a cash economy and that value in relation

to other goods in the marketplace. Last, surplus value is generated via reduction of the

socially necessary labor time required to produce a certain good, product, or commodity.

It is the workers who must produce a product whose exchange value surpasses the value

not only of their own labour but also the salaries of their managers and other production

costs. It is the extraction of this surplus value that Marxist political economists refer to as

exploitation (Steiger, 1999).

 48

The concept of valorization is important for the investigation of changes in labour

processes and skills. While some scholars argue that there is overall growth in skills at

the aggregate level (Penn, 1984), changes in skill level must be understood through the

concept of value and its relation to exploitation. Researchers must understand how

advanced technological production processes can undermine the value of labour; this

includes the surge toward automated production processes.

The devaluation of labour, which can include the decline of real wages, loss of

skills, and lower social standing, can be linked to the technological changes we see

throughout industries. Over time, there has been a shift to an industrial model where the

standardized organization of tasks and the work pace is dictated by technologies (Smith

& Thompson, 1999). The adoption of technologies can result in a workplace where

workers find their autonomy eroded. Even in workplaces promoting teamwork in the

name of worker empowerment, there is limited delegation of authority, the empowerment

rhetoric is mostly empty, and managerial prerogatives remain intact (Smith & Thompson,

1999). The individual worker is frequently overlooked in the workplace, and viewed as

part of a collective, anonymous input. Braverman and others understand that the

workplace is an important arena for the construction of identities (Smith & Thompson,

1999) and that the introduction of technologies can present major challenges to the

building of worker identities. However, while frontline workers may experience

deskilling, other workers may encounter new and rewarding opportunities.

Some researchers identify increasing levels of polarization between experts and

nonexperts (Burris, 1999; Hughes & Lowe, 2000). The polarization thesis proposes that

complex changes occur as more advanced technologies are entrenched within workplaces
 49

and become a hallmark of industrial sectors and national economies (Hughes & Lowe,

2000). As organizations introduce complex technological innovations, a gap emerges

between managers, technical experts, and professionals (experts), and production workers

(nonexperts) (Burris, 1999). For experts, the emphasis on technological solutions can

enhance the work experience and call upon higher levels of skill. The work tends to be

more creative, flexible and collegial. At the opposite end of the spectrum, nonexperts

often experience increased routinization, loss of skill and autonomy, and more stringent

surveillance. The simultaneous changes experienced by these two groups of employees

have led to a discussion of ‘skill restructuring’, where both deskilling (of nonexperts) and

reskilling are occurring (of experts) (Burris, 1999). The result of these workplace shifts

over time is that the voice of nonexperts is marginalized, and the knowledge and insight

they might bring to problem solving and product development is eradicated. This may

also tend to limit the ability of workers to develop any sort of positive identity through

their work.

4.2 SKILLS AND THE DESKILLING HYPOTHESIS

As this project is focusing both on the Essential Skills initiative and the potential

effects of deskilling on food workers, an important issue to address is how we define

skill. The literature is sometimes vague in this regard. While academics often discuss

deskilling processes, they infrequently attempt to provide a concrete definition of skills.

Skills are often confused with the notion of a job or some ideas about occupation

(Standing, 1992). Standing notes that at an abstract level, “skill implies some

combination of creative and manual abilities” (1992: 259). Further, skill has at least three
 50

underlying meanings: it reflects objective characteristics of work activity, autonomy in

the production process, and also the social status of the work or worker (Standing, 1992).

When referring to the objective characteristics, one is looking at skill as technique.

Standing argues that a useful way to understand the level of skill associated with a job is

to reflect upon whether the worker is a ‘specialist’ or ‘specialized’. In the latter case, the

worker may receive general training and perform routinized tasks, and is generally

excluded from the design and comprehension of the production process (Standing, 1992).

This state of work differs from that of the specialist who is likely to exercise far more

discretion over when and how to carry out his/her tasks (Standing, 1992).

This distinction between ‘specialist’ and ‘specialized’ work leads into the second

underlying meaning of skill, the autonomy associated with the job. We should understand

that a significant issue to address when reflecting upon the deskilling of work is the

degree of autonomy enjoyed by the worker. According to Standing, “the skilled are

differentiated primarily by the degree to which they have an autonomous status” (1992:

260). Autonomy refers to the freedom that an individual has in deciding how to organize

their job tasks and to respond to the demands of managers (Standing, 1992).

The last underlying meaning of skill, social status, offers an interesting

perspective on the preservation of occupational prestige. Standing claims that “some

occupations are called skilled simply because of custom or because barriers to entry have

preserved an artificial or arbitrary skill hierarchy” (1992: 260). Further, he asserts that the

preservation of social status may also be safeguarded through a ritual of training that has

little relation to the complexity of the task or to the general and specific knowledge

required (Standing, 1992). Skill as social status is also closely linked to skill as technique
 51

and the autonomous aspect of skill. Specialist occupations, which require complex skill

sets and where the workers exhibit increased levels of autonomy, are often associated

with high social standing. Conversely, jobs requiring simpler skill sets and where the

work is highly routinized are associated with lower social standing (Standing, 1992).

Perhaps the most important contribution that Standing makes is to develop a

distinction between an occupation and a job. According to Standing, an occupation is

characterized by a “career of learning and the mastery, or possession, of the mysteries of

a craft or profession” (1992: 258). In this respect, an occupation presents the worker with

a sense of continuity, a progression, and an acquisition of status, control, and autonomy

(Standing, 1992). In contrast, “a job” conveys only an activity, a limited and limiting

piece of work with a narrow set of tasks (1992). Jobs are characterized by a lack of

permanency, accumulated wisdom or skill, and are surrounded by an aura of insecurity

(Standing, 1992). The difference between these two forms of work is characterized by

Standing in the following manner: “a job is what one does now, an occupation is what

one is” (1992: 259).

Standing argues that the opportunity for workers to engage in meaningful

occupations is being limited by the adoption of flexible labour/employment regimes. In

particular he argues that the shift away from protected, full-time wage employment to

less secure forms of labour relations, such as outsourcing, subcontracting, and

casualization, results in labour force fragmentation and the erosion of economic

entitlements (Standing, 1992). In this environment, training programs are designed in

terms of “minimal modules of employable skill”, such that occupational training is

 52

reduced to job training, where trainees have little opportunity to realize autonomy or

status (Standing, 1992).

This, in turn, has led to the erosion of “labour process security”. Labour process

security refers to the possibility for workers and their representative organizations to

participate in, and to influence the development of the labour process. Standing (1992)

defines the labour process as working conditions, work structures, skill acquisition, and

reformulation of tasks. Overall, Standing’s arguments support the idea that pressures

from owners to improve profits and efficiencies by reducing worker autonomy results in

the erosion of skills. Flexible specialization, and product and process standardization

through the selective applications of new technologies, increases the control of owners

while simultaneously reducing the level of skills required by workers.

Revisiting the earlier sections of this literature review, the concentration of

grocery retailers, and the development of their own private brands, leads to a need for

greater levels of standardization up the food chain. Processors and grocery product

manufacturers are forced to consolidate and expand their operations in order to meet the

requirements of retailers. Food processors and manufacturers, including those producing

baked goods, look to increased mechanization in order to increase output, implement

controls, and meet standards (Burn, 1998). Moreover, given the capitalist nature of the

market, profit motives and class interests are embedded in the drive to mechanize and

automate production. Braverman postulates that changes toward mechanized production

“have been brought about by the drive for greater productivity: that is, the effort to find

ways to incorporate ever smaller quantities of labour time into ever greater quantities of

product” (1974: 170). In this way also, the adoption of new machinery is an effort on the
 53

part of management to wrest control of the work process from workers and to reconstitute

it as a process coordinated by management (Braverman, 1974).

The use of machinery to achieve managerial control over the work process has

been complemented by the adoption of the principles of scientific management. Frederick

Taylor utilized time studies as the core element in gaining control over jobs. Time studies

are best defined as “the measurement of elapsed time for each component operation of a

work process” (Braverman, 1974: 173). In time, Frank Gilbreth added the concept of

motion to the basic study of time in analyzing how workers execute their jobs.

Movements were catalogued for comparison to alternative methods in the hopes of

developing the optimal means of completing a task. Further, these studies created

standardized measures for tasks, in effect describing jobs in purely statistical terms, with

little concern for the needs of workers (Braverman, 1974). When Gilbreth combined the

concepts of time and motion, he named the new study procedure Therbligs (the near

reverse of his surname) (Braverman, 1974). When observing workers under this system

of analysis, jobs were broken down into component tasks, including such actions as

grasp, sit, bend, assemble, hold, and position. After an observer had analyzed an

occupation, a Therblig Chart was generated for the occupation, which represented the

separate activities of the worker in any part of the work sequence. After the development

of the Therblig chart, additional standardized approaches to examining the work process

were developed. Some of these approaches were specific to companies and designed in-

house, while others were developed as more industry specific (Braverman, 1974).

At the core of the deskilling thesis is the idea of stripping each task to its simplest

components, reducing worker discretion, routinizing the work process, and habituating
 54

the worker (Smith, 1994). Labour itself becomes a singular input in the production

process, merely another cost to consider along with building rents, equipment

expenditures, marketing activities, administration, and other business functions. In effect,

labour is reduced to an accessory to technology and labourers (as well as consumers) are

deskilled as an outcome of the struggle for power and control over work processes,

labour markets, and other markets (Jaffe & Gertler, 2006). Further, it becomes apparent

that the relations between workers and managers (and skills) in the capitalist workplace

are driven by issues of class and power. Many of the changes that result in a reduction of

status for lower-level employees have little to do with organizational efficiency and

modernization, and much more to do with control of the workplace (Smith, 1994). The

role of organizational hierarchies in shaping deskilling processes is a key focus of

Braverman’s work.

Braverman’s discussion of skill has been seen as an important contribution for at

least three reasons. First, Braverman integrated scattered ideas on skill degradation into a

coherent Marxist framework (Form, 1987). Second, by framing deskilling as an evidence-

based debate between Marxists and non-Marxists, Braverman opened a necessary

channel of debate between the two (Form, 1987). Third, by demonstrating that monopoly

capital was using mechanization and automation to deskill blue-collar jobs, Braverman

modernized Marxist thought (Form, 1987). Automation can be viewed as the descendant

of mechanization, and a more advanced agent for deskilling via the elimination of the

worker. Automation enlarges the reserve army of labour through the deskilling of

occupations and the elimination of jobs (Form, 1987). Braverman’s radical assertions

also served to rekindle interest in the effects of technological progress in the workplace.
 55

He reminded us that mechanization, long accepted as beneficial to the masses, can play

an authoritarian role in the workplace. Technologies in the workplace are an embedded

form of technical control (Simpson, 1985). Managerial initiatives with respect to control

involve not only the ability to control the content of work but also the terms under which

the work is done (Simpson, 1985). Increased levels of control result in proportional or

even greater decreases in worker autonomy.

Braverman’s focus on declining skills is often argued to be limited in scope as he

tended to overlook some of the new skill sets that are required in industrial and post-

industrial economies (Krahn and Lowe, 2002). Critics cite the increased demand for

leadership skills, sophisticated people skills, efficient mastery of new technologies, and

the ability to operate computers as skills not addressed by Braverman (Krahn and Lowe,

2002). Second, Braverman’s work implies that workers passively accept managerial

assaults on their job skills and autonomy (Krahn and Lowe, 2002). This criticism ties in

with what some argue to be the main shortcoming of Labour and Monopoly Capital,

namely that Braverman’s theory of the degradation of work is overly deterministic and

seems to suggest that workers seldom resist the changes proposed or imposed by owners

and managers. Other critics have also argued that, despite the length of Braverman’s

work, his analysis is simplistic in the way it assumes that capitalist interests have the

“totalizing power to deskill and degrade work” (Smith, 1994: 407). Critics see the

transformation of work processes as a much more complicated dynamic shaped by

historical, social, and cultural circumstances.

Krahn and Lowe’s (2002) assertion that Braverman failed to account for the

resistance of workers has been a key critique of his work. Recognition of this issue has
 56

resulted in the reinsertion of the subject (worker) in labour process theory (Smith &

Thompson, 1998). The second wave of labour process theory has reinserted the worker as

a social actor in several ways. First, workers are presented as having the ability oppose

capital. Second, workers may also serve as a creative resource, which in many instances

can successfully convert labour power into profitable labour. Third, workers are also a

source of consent, most notably when labour partakes in workplace games or routines

(Smith & Thompson, 1998). The reinsertion of the subject into labour process theory is

tantamount to the introduction of agency into Braverman’s original framework (Smith,

1994). However, the inclusion of the subject does not eliminate the need to investigate

the continuing process of deskilling. Even if workers have some ability to resist changes

imposed upon them, the capacity to resist is limited by their need to work. Also, while

workers may have opportunities to be creative and contribute to the organization, there is

a need to understand the degree of that involvement and how it affects the skills of

workers.

The sociology of work has found new life in the broader discussion of

globalization. In The McDonaldization of Society, George Ritzer considers the

restructuring of work through a new lens that he refers to as McDonaldization. He argues

that the processes used to rationalize and control production in fast-food restaurants are

permeating many other workplaces as well as other aspects of society (Ritzer, 2004). As a

process, McDonaldization hinges on four dimensions: efficiency, calculability,

predictability, and control through nonhuman technology. In a McDonaldized workplace,

workers may feel vulnerable as a result of the many organizational and technological

processes that serve as instruments of control. Furthermore, the threat of being displaced
 57

by new technologies may be very real. This ensures that managers and owners retain

power in the employee-employer relationship (Ritzer, 2004).

According to Ritzer, the McDonaldization of food preparation has significant

social and cultural impacts as “the acceleration of technological change, the increasing

pace of life—all this and more make it impossible to go back to the world, if it ever

existed, of home-cooked meals, traditional restaurant dinners, high-quality foods, meals

loaded with surprises, and restaurants run by chefs free to express their creativity” (2004,

18). Like Braverman and many other scholars, Ritzer views Taylorism as the root of

efficiency-minded and calculable practices with respect to production. Food production is

dominated by a focus on quantity over quality, where it is important to give an illusion of

generous quantity (Ritzer, 2004). Food decisions become narrow dollar and cents

calculations for producers and consumers. The use of technologies to increase yields and

reduce input and production costs becomes the norm. Even food quality becomes a

limited quantifiable measure for example, through the use of spectrophotometers to

identify bread that is of suitable colour and consistency (Azizi & Rao, 2004).

The relationship between technology and control is central to the

McDonaldization argument. For Ritzer, technology includes machines and tools as well

as skills, knowledge, rules, regulations, procedures, and techniques. Ritzer (2004) also

makes a distinction between human technologies, which are controlled by people, and

nonhuman technologies in which the technology controls people. Increasingly,

companies, particularly in the food industry, adopt such nonhuman technologies in order

to exert control over workers and the production process. That is “control by people has

shifted toward control by technologies” with respect to the work process (Ritzer, 2004:
 58

107). In short, Taylorism is manifest in McDonaldization. The food industry is structured

such that the tasks performed by workers are more basic and leave them with fewer

opportunities to exercise their own judgment and skill (Ritzer, 2004).

Industrial bakeries now incorporate automated systems that leave humans with

minimal roles (Ritzer, 2004):

The most advanced bakeries now resemble oil refineries. Flour, water, a
score of additives, and huge amounts of yeast, sugar, and water are mixed
into a broth that ferments for an hour. More flour is then added, and the
dough is extruded into pans, allowed to rise for an hour, and then moved
through a tunnel oven. The loaves emerge after eighteen minutes, to be
cooled, sliced, and wrapped (Serrin, 1980: 23).15

When we discuss technology, it is important to understand that there are material

and non-material dimensions. The non-material side of technology refers to the

knowledge and technical skills involved in producing some product or service. The

material dimension of technology refers to the mechanical devices utilized in converting

raw materials into a product or service (Shepard, 1977). The ways that technologies are

selected and deployed in the workplace has a major impact on the division of labour

(Shepard, 1977). Material technologies have effects on the non-material aspects of

technology. For workers these impacts are significant with respect to the retention of

knowledge and skills.

The examples offered by Ritzer and Sennett that were discussed earlier provide

evidence of how the skills required by bakers have changed over the years due to changes

in material technologies. They do not, however, address skills employed at another stage

of the process where highly skilled individuals develop sophisticated monitoring and

control equipment. These developments are representative of a post-industrial society

15
Serrin as quoted in Ritzer (2004). It is important to acknowledge that this source is now more than 25
years old, which provides an interesting basis for comparison with my own observations.
 59

where “complexification will be the prevailing pattern of social change” with respect to

work (Hage & Powers, 1992: 50). As some workers are rewarded for exhibiting new and

more complex skills sets, others will see their skill-base eroded, a situation that is

characteristic of a post-Fordist economy.

The debate surrounding Fordist and post-Fordist economies continues to inform

the sociology of work. While there are several dimensions to a Fordist society, including

the regime of accumulation, the mode of regulation, and the mode of societalization, the

most important aspect is the type of labour process (Jessop, 1992). The labour process in

Fordist regimes is akin to the type of work characterized by Braverman. Such processes

are typified by assembly line production and long unbroken production runs to ensure

economies of scale (Jessop, 1992). In addition, Fordist production is reliant on Taylorist

principles of systematic control by management over the production process and reliance

on semiskilled and unskilled labourers (Jessop, 1992). The production regime of Fordist

economies then gives rise to the consumption of mass-produced, standardized

commodities. In short, Fordism is “the production of standardized goods or services

through a Taylorized technical division of labour, the use of dedicated machinery, and a

focus on economies of scale” (Jessop, 1992: 54).

A focus on the labour process reveals how post-Fordism differs from Fordism in

some ways but in others can be seen to exacerbate concerns regarding the

(dis)empowerment of employees. The labour process in a post-Fordist economic

environment can be defined as a flexible production process based on adaptable machines

or systems, as well as an appropriately flexible work force (Jessop, 1992). The crucial

hardwares in a post-Fordist economic environment are microelectronics-based

 60

information and communications technologies (Jessop, 1992). As a result of the

application of these technologies in the workplace, it can be argued that in some

occupations post-Fordism will lead to a further extension of Taylorism into occupations

previously characterized by autonomy and creativity, as well as further intensification of

Taylorist principles in occupations already affected by this approach to work (Jessop,

1992). For this reason, Jessop finds it difficult to refer to the present state of economics

and production as post-Fordist, and instead argues that if anything we are witnessing the

continued advancement of Fordism (1992). However, the introduction of advanced

technologies and the need to meet the demands of increasingly capricious consumers

requires the work of skilled technicians with increasingly complex skill sets. In effect, the

reliance on flexible forms of technology requires a highly skilled but different type of

worker. Craft production methods are replaced by new technologies created and

maintained by a new class of workers (Jessop, 1992).

Understanding changes emerging in a post-Fordist work environment can further

our understanding of deskilling. At the same time, recognition of changes in the division

of labour can augment our understanding of control in the workplace. An integral part of

post-Fordist theory pertains to flexible specialization and its contribution to the process of

deskilling. Coriat (1992) notes that the move toward post-Fordism involves a process-

flexibility where new automation techniques make it possible to use facilities at full

capacity despite uncertain demands. This is due to a new focus on product flexibility,

where economies of scale give way to economies of scope, where firms focus on

maximizing market capitalization through offering a diverse product line that reflects the

needs of the market (Coriat, 1992).

 61

Coriat’s work raises the possibility that a move to a post-Fordist production

strategy will have little benefit for front-line workers. In discussing the division of labour,

Coriat contends that the shift from the old paradigm to the new is based on the premise

that “the maximization of the output does not rely on the performance of the individual

worker, but is primarily related to the optimization of operations and processes” (1992:

145). Essentially, Coriat’s discussion reasserts the notion that advanced technologies will

continue to be deployed on the shop floor and to displace the skills of workers, if not the

workers themselves. With respect to control of the labour force, firms attempt to increase

their competitive edge by making the wage contract more flexible; that is they attempt to

decrease the direct and indirect costs of the labour force by moving towards alternative

employment arrangements such as contract work, part-time wages, and outsourcing

(Leborgne & Lipietz, 1992). This process has been characterized by some as the

casualization of the labour force.

4.3 ESSENTIAL SKILLS

The Canadian government acknowledges that the workplace has been radically

altered over the past decades. Corporate structures have been transformed by increased

global competition and the continued adoption of material technologies. There is an

understanding that jobs, and their specific skill and knowledge requirements, are

changing. HRSDC’s Essential Skills (ES) program has been developed to classify the

skills a worker requires to execute particular jobs satisfactorily. ES was launched in April

of 2003, and proposes to “ensure that Canadians have the right skills for changing work
 62

and life demands.”16 Further, the program is expected to inform people of the skills they

need for certain occupations, aid in the development of workplace training programs and

job descriptions, and create educational tools to enhance skills development.17 The

occupational profiles and complexity levels identified by HRSDC have also been

developed to provide a wide range of information to employers and trainers about the

skills which prospective employees are expected to deploy. This information, according

to HRSDC, is critical in ensuring that Canadian companies will be able to compete in a

globalizing, knowledge-based economy.18

The nine Essential Skills promoted by HRSDC include reading text, document

use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, continuous learning,

thinking skills, and computer use. These skills were identified and validated through

extensive research by HRSDC, as well as other national and international agencies.19 In

discussing the ES program it is imperative to recognize that the Essential Skills Research

Project (ESRP) examined a number of skills but only selected nine for further study and

use in their program. “These nine were selected because they are identifiable, definable,

common, (though varying in form between occupations), and are susceptible to influence

through relatively short training interventions.”20

The ESRP moves beyond the simple listing of nine skills. This initiative differs

from many others like it in that the program recognizes that workers require skills with

different levels of complexity for different occupations. The levels of complexity range

from 1 for the most basic tasks to a score of 5 for the most complex tasks demanded of a

16
Essential Skills Website
17
Essential Skills Website
18
Essential Skills Website
19
Essential Skills Website
20
Essential Skills Website
 63

worker.21 The several hundred occupations identified and researched in the ES database

are categorized and summarized in terms of the skills required and the level of

complexity for each.

A major function of this program is to develop profiles for specific occupations

by cataloging the skills necessary for a particular job. Even a quick look at ES reveals

that the orientation of those responsible for creating the program for food sector workers

is dominated by a Tayloristic and McDonaldized ideology. Conceivably skilled

occupations such as bakers, butchers, and chefs are notably absent from their seemingly

comprehensive list of occupations. Instead, these occupations fall under the broader

category of “Process Control and Machine Operators, Food and Beverage Processing.”22

Defining food workers as “Process Control and Machine Operators” for food and

beverage processing signals a disconnect of the human experience from food. Food

workers are more frequently called upon to use prescribed protocols as opposed to

creativity, or deeper knowledge, in their work. Using baking as an example, we might

find that workers in bakeries (as opposed to bakers) will be able to read documents, do

basic math, and communicate effectively, but will infrequently encounter situations

which call upon any embodied knowledge about bread. The jobs of bakery workers may

not necessarily require the knowledge and skills learned and deployed by a home-baker,

but more frequently require only limited technical knowledge conforming to capitalist

interests and provided by institutional educators (Jaffe and Gertler, 2006).

The following passage summarizes the “occupation” of “Process Control and

Machine Operators, Food and Beverage Processing:”

21
Essential Skills Website
22
Essential Skills Website
 64

Process control and machine operators in food and beverage processing

operate multi-function process control machinery or single function
machines to process and package food and beverage products. They are
employed in fruit and vegetable processing plants, dairies, flour mills,
bakeries, sugar refineries, meat plants, breweries and other food and
beverage processing establishments.23

While the profile assesses the complexity level of each Essential Skill in the profile, at

the beginning of the profile HRSDC singles out numeracy, oral communication, and

problem solving as the most important Essential Skills for this occupation. With respect

to numeracy, the complexity levels range from 1 to 3 and include activities such as

measuring and weighing ingredients, measuring the thickness of products to ensure

consistency, and estimating the number of necessary containers or the size/length of

equipment or hoses. Oral communication is rated as a 1 on the complexity scale, and

refers to discussions with coworkers, supervisors, managers and technicians about

processes, production levels, and equipment. The complexity level for problem solving

typically ranges from levels 1 to 3. The profile cites potential problem solving

opportunities such as the need to make adjustments to equipment to ensure a consistent

product, rectify issues with bad batches of product, and deal with equipment or computer

malfunctions. This brief discussion of the Process Control and Machine Operators, Food

and Beverage Processing profile will be elaborated upon later in the thesis (and compared

to my observations of various workers). It is introduced here to give the reader some idea

about the elements of a typical profile and about the specifics of the profile to which

bakers have been assigned.

23
Essential Skills Website
 65

4.4 SUMMARY OF LITERATURE

The consolidation of food processors, manufacturers, and retailers is changing the

ways in which food is being produced and delivered to consumers. Increased demand by

retailers for consistent products to be provided over wider geographic spaces is altering

the way that our food is produced, bread being no exception. The need for large amounts

of uniform product requires mass production. These production techniques frequently

require more elaborate, larger-scale, automated technologies. Under managerial control

(and viewed as a managerial prerogative), the adoption of such technologies has

significant consequences for all food workers, especially those who are involved in food

production in commercial and fully industrialized food manufacturing and preparation

facilities. As has been demonstrated in other studies, new technologies can lead to a loss

of skills. In particular, when skill is understood as technique, deskilling can be rapid. In

some cases the adoption of automated technologies may eliminate jobs altogether. But

skill is a multifaceted and multidimensional phenomenon, and includes other components

such as autonomy and social standing. An investigation of the changing skills of bakers

requires understanding not only how technologies have altered the bread-making process,

but also how decision-making structures and power relations play a role in the

reorganization and execution of bakery work.

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5.0 OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The intent of the research is to uncover how different production technologies and

contexts affect the bread-making process and the skills of bakers and related food

workers. The focus of the data collection process is to understand the interplay between

the human actors, the technologies, and the bread products being produced. This

investigation also focuses on the relationships between individuals engaged directly in

the workplace and the managers who serve at various levels.

When observing the research sites, there were several aspects to which I chose to

direct particular attention. The first of these was how the workers interacted with

machinery. It was important to observe the bread-making process at multiple facilities

that used different scales of technology, as scale may affect how workers function in

relation to machines. An important purpose of the workplace observations was to

discover the extent to which the workers exhibited control and or mastery of the

machinery in the workplace.

Second, with particular reference to bread making, I was interested to observe the

amount of time the bakers spent working hands-on with the dough. Much of the skill

associated with working in the food sector is related to preparing and manipulating raw

ingredients and bringing them together to make a saleable product. In this connection, it

was important to discover the changes that have occurred with respect to the ingredients

and inputs used in bread making over time, particularly from the perspective of the

bakers.
 67

Third, it is important to consider how the social relationships that are essential and

central aspects of the production process also influence the skills of workers. An integral

part of understanding skill as autonomy and control is to uncover the trade-offs involved

for workers as they strive to preserve their autonomy and influence with respect to

workplace decisions. The research seeks to uncover how the bakers perceive autonomy

and how they understand the actions of management.

In order to best analyze the observational and interview data collected during the

research process, the field research is presented in three sections. The first section

consists of accounts of each work environment under study. The purpose is to describe

the scope of production in each baking facility, the technologies in place, and the tasks

and workdays of the workers. These descriptions are the basis for comparisons of the

different jobs in the workplaces and a means of exploring the interplay between

technology and skill in various settings. The second section consists of a more detailed

analysis of the observations presented in section one. It is here that I return again to the

concept of deskilling. Drawing on the personal work histories of the bakery workers and

the managers of the different facilities, and combining this information with the

observations made in the several work environments under study, I explore the deskilling

that is occurring as a result of technological changes, economic pressures, and continued

shifts in decision-making authority. In the third section, the Essential Skills program is

revisited. The evidence presented here suggests that this program will have complex

implications for workplace organization and politics, and is not necessarily the

progressive force it claims to be with respect to preparing workers for an emerging

knowledge-based economy. While it draws attention to some skills, it ignores others and
 68

lumps workers into broad categories that erase important differences. Rather than

assisting managers and workers to recognize skills and to adapt to new requirements, it

may serve as a means to further dominate and marginalize workers and other vulnerable

groups. At the end of this chapter, a concluding summary of findings is presented, which

sets the stage for a broader discussion of the implications of this research and of the

conditions it reveals.

5.2 THE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

For this study, I chose to observe three different kinds of work environments

related to bread production. The first of these was the bakery of an urban retail co-

operative. At this main research site, systematic observations were conducted for eleven

full days over a two-week period. In addition to the research at this site, two industrial

bakeries located in western Canada were chosen for study. Unfortunately, these facilities,

though open to my visits, were not as accommodating as the Co-op bakery. Rather than

extensive observation periods, observation of these facilities was limited to relatively

brief guided tours. The final research site for this project was a large-scale industrial mill

where the flours and mixes for the aforementioned baking facilities are produced.

Observation in this case was not permitted. However, the findings from an interview

conducted with the manager of this facility are included in the discussion about skills and

deskilling.

5.2.1 THE CO-OP BAKERY

The Co-op bakery was the principal field research site for this thesis project. This

section presents a preliminary description of the facility, an overview of the goods

 69

produced in the bakery, an account of the staff and their positions within the bakery

together with how their shifts are arranged, an inventory of the key equipment/machines,

and descriptions of how various pieces of equipment are used.

The bakery studied is in many ways the flagship bakery for the Saskatoon Co-

op’s grocery stores. Not only does it function as a production unit for the Co-op, it also

serves as showpiece for the store. In adopting the design tactics of many newer grocery

stores, the bakery is close to the entrance of the store. Furthermore, the bakery has a

semi-open design, meaning that some of what happens in the bakery is seen (and

smelled) by the customers in the store. However, the bakery is not completely open, and

the view available to customers is clear only from a small section of the store; so, for the

most part the bakery work is not visible.

The workday follows a set schedule, although there is variation on the weekend.

During the week, the first baker arrives at 4:00 a.m. His job is to count the product that

remains on the shelves from the previous day and then to decide how much product to

make that day. They typically start by making 100% whole wheat bread, which is a

scratch mix, and then move into white and 60% whole wheat, in relatively large batches.

In addition, the first baker bakes-off the frozen pastries and fridge loaves prepared the

previous day. The next to arrive, at 5:00 a.m., is the first production assistant. This

individual is responsible for the removal of old bread from the shelves as well as pulling

frozen goods that go directly to the retail shelves without baking. Beyond these

responsibilities, they must ensure that all products are correctly labelled and priced/dated.

The first cake decorator arrives at 6:00 a.m.; her responsibilities are to decorate cakes and

prepare fancy products for the deli. The next worker to arrive is the second baker, at 7:00
 70

a.m. Their job is to assist the first baker with the plan they have set out for the day. Later

on they will also be responsible for the products other than bread, such as muffins,

cookies, and cakes. Also arriving at 7:00 a.m. is the bakery manager. For the most part, it

is not his responsibility to bake. His tasks generally include inventory, ordering, checking

on sales, budgeting, and ensuring that the bakery runs smoothly. However, due to

exceptional circumstances during the research period, the manager was working directly

in the production process much more than usual.

The next employee to arrive is the second production assistant, typically around

12:00 p.m. This individual is a part-time worker, scheduled to work until 6:00 p.m. Their

responsibilities are the same as the other production assistant. They are to get product

onto the shelves located on the sales floor, and to pull products from the freezer when

necessary. At 2:00 p.m. the second cake decorator arrives. The cake decorators are the

showcase individuals for the bakery. They work in plain view of the customers, and are

usually the first to deal with their questions even if they have to defer them to another

employee.

On weekends the schedule is altered slightly. The first baker arrives at 3:00 a.m.,

with the second baker joining the fray at 5:00 a.m. The first production assistant still

arrives at 5:00 a.m., but the second arrives at 10:00 a.m. instead of 12:00 p.m. On the

weekends, cake decorators start at 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., with perhaps a third joining

later to keep up with demand (more cakes are needed on the weekend).

There are several important and substantial pieces of equipment used by the

bakers. This section includes descriptions of the machinery used most extensively by the

bakers. There are two mixers, one large and one small. The large mixer is used for the
 71

staple breads, such as white bread, 60 % whole wheat, 100% whole wheat, sweet dough,

and two other multi-grain style breads. The smaller mixer is used for specialty dough,

such as rye, sour dough, and pumpernickel, along with the batter for cakes, cookies and

biscuits. Located in between the two mixers is a computerized water meter which delivers

precise amounts of water (by weight) at a specific temperature. The bakers weigh out the

appropriate amounts of dough using a simple balance scale with a variety of

counterweights. Also present in the bakery is a bun rounder, which is used to form three

dozen buns at a given time. A dough divider is used to separate larger quantities of dough

into loaf-sized portions.

A sheeter is used to form the appropriate amount of dough into uncooked loaves.

The sheeter is a machine that has been employed by bakers for decades as an alternative

to forming loaves by hand. When preparing hundreds of loaves a day, hand forming

would be very time consuming. The bakery also has one large proofer24, which can hold

6 baking racks25. Two rack ovens are used to bake the bread, each holding one full rack at

a time. The ovens are approximately seven feet tall, five feet wide, and five feet deep.

The machines listed represent the principal equipment necessary for bread production.

Other technologies used in this workplace include a bread slicer, ticketing computer,

industrial dishwasher, a walk-in freezer and a walk-in refrigerator.

The following is an account of the bread making process including more complete

descriptions of the machines and how they work. The first step in the process is for the

bakers to prepare the dough. The ingredients are added to the mixer, and usually include

24
Proofers are climate-controlled rooms (warm and humid) where bread is left to rise before baking.
25
The baking racks can hold up to two dozen baking sheets (back to back, 12 on each side). The baking
sheets are roughly 24 inches by 18 inches. The racks have casters on the bottom and are approximately 6
feet in height.
 72

enriched flour, a bread base, yeast, and water. The flours are in 25-30 kilogram bags that

are stacked on pallets on the floor near to the mixer. The bakers typically estimate the

ingredients, with the exception of the yeast. On occasion the bakers will use a scale to

ensure they have enough flour and base. The water is added using the meter, which

requires the bakers to key in an appropriate weight of water. For the majority of the

mixes the bakers initially add a large quantity of water and then add small increments to

reach the desired consistency. The large mixer is used for most kinds of dough, including

white, French, sweet dough, 60% whole wheat, 100% whole wheat, Nordic, Alpine, and

sour dough. Both the bowl and the dough arm rotate counter-clockwise. The mixer has

two speeds, low and high, and separate timers for each speed function. All mixes start off

slow as the water is added. The mixer then gears up to higher speed, mixing and kneading

the dough vigorously. While the timer is set for the high speed, it is not unusual for the

bakers to stop it before the timer alerts them, or have it run a bit longer after the timer

expires.

After the dough is mixed and moved to the table, the bakers scale it by hand.

Rather than create the perfect balance, the bakers observe the speed at which the dough

falls once placed on the scale. If it falls too fast there is too much—a gradual descent is

preferred. After the quantities are scaled out, the dough is either divided or rounded. The

dough divider works by manually lifting the lid fully up. This action drops the inner tray,

which is divided into 20 tiles of equal size (four by five). For hot breads (non-sliced) 24

pounds of dough are placed in the tray; for sliced bread 29 " pounds of dough are used.

Once the lid is closed, the divider, using a hydraulic, presses the dough up against the lid.

This disperses the dough evenly across the surface of the tray (a uniform amount over
 73

each tile). A grid-like blade is then triggered from the bottom of the machine, and cuts the

dough into 20 uniform portions.

The bun rounder is used by spreading dough, anywhere from 3 pounds and 12

ounces to 6 pounds at a time, on a tray with 36 divots. The tray is then placed in the

divider, which has a large lid. The height of the lid is adjusted for the different amounts

of dough used. This is done by manually turning a metal screw, which has numbers

representing the different weights on it. The lid is pulled down with a large lever, which

takes a good effort on the part of the baker. This helps to flatten the dough evenly. Before

the lid is fully down, the blades are engaged using another lever (this lever moves side to

side), dividing the dough into 36 relatively equal portions. Once the blades are engaged,

the lid is dropped all the way down, applying more pressure to the dough. A final lever is

then engaged which triggers the base to rotate and vibrate (a hula-hoop type motion). The

combination of the pressure and the movement of the base rounds the 36 portions into

bun shapes. The entire process takes about 25 seconds, with 7 to 10 seconds of actual

powered machine time.

As one might expect, bigger buns require more time in the machine. In most

cases, the size of bun generated by the machine is used as is. However, combining two

buns and sending them through the sheeter makes the submarine sandwich (sub) buns and

hoagie buns. Tea buns are made by dividing the machine-rounded buns into two. Using

the edge of their hands, the bakers slice through the dough by moving the hand back and

forth, rolling out two buns. The final variation produced from the bun rounder is torpedo

buns. In this instance the rounded buns are rolled out under the hands of the bakers into

oval-shaped rolls.
 74

Bread dough that has been separated in the divider is further processed in the

sheeter. The sheeter is used to roll the dough into loaves. After the divider cuts the

appropriate quantity of dough into loaf-size portions, the baker tosses the lumps of dough

into the feeding area of the sheeter. In the first step of the machining process, the dough

is flattened (rolled out) as it moves through two heavy rollers. Moving to the lower level,

the dough is then rolled up by passing under a chain-mail blanket. In the final step, the

now-rolled dough proceeds under a metal plate that compacts the dough, ensuring a nice

tight roll. This step also guarantees a uniform length to the loaves as the sides of the plate

trim off the excess dough—which is typically a very small amount, if any. For steps two

and three, the bread is moving along a short conveyor belt. At the end, the bread falls

onto a rack. The unbaked breads are then placed by hand into quadruple loaf pans (or on

baking sheets), and racked for proofing and baking. The sheeter is equipped with a safety

lever at the feed mouth in case someone puts a hand in the machine, getting it caught in

the rollers. The dough sometimes trips this lever when the bakers throw it into the feeder.

When working alone, the bakers will stand further back, where the rolled loaves emerge,

and throw the dough from there. This allows them to roll formed dough and rack unbaked

bread at the same time.

The formed, but as yet uncooked, buns and loaves are placed on trays or in pans,

and these are placed on large wheeled racks. The racks are then transferred to the proofer

where the bread typically rises for about an hour. After the appropriate amount of time in

the proofer, which is estimated by the bakers, the bread is moved to the oven where it is

baked. The bakers are responsible for the removal of the bread from the oven and the

transfer of the loaves to cooling racks. Once the bread or buns are placed on the racks to
 75

cool, the bakers have completed their work. At this point in the process the production

assistants slice, bag, and price the products, after which they place them on the sales

floor. Not including the time spent by the production assistants on these final steps, the

bread-making process from mix to baked takes approximately two and a half hours. The

daily output of this bakery is approximately 500 loaves and 100 dozen buns, along with

varying quantities of cinnamon buns, biscuits, cookies and cakes.

5.2.1.1 THE BAKERS

The Co-op bakery employs three bakers and a bakery manager. Two of the bakers

work full-time and the third baker works part-time. The bakery manager is also a full-

time employee. The bakers and the bakery manager bring varied experiences to the work

environment, but each has a wealth of baking knowledge to draw upon. Interviews were

conducted with one of the full-time bakers, the part-time baker, and the bakery

manager.26 In addition to these interviews, the manager of the grocery store was also

interviewed.

There has been a concerted effort on the part of the Co-op to ensure that the

individuals working in the bakery are skilled in their trade. The full-time baker started

baking 34 years ago at a small neighbourhood bakery in Saskatoon. He received his

training through this small bakery where he worked part-time for three and a half years.

After circumstances compelled the baker to look for new work, he applied to the Co-op.

He was hired to work the night shift, and for over 25 years his main responsibility was to

make bread to supply all of the Co-op stores in Saskatoon. Other duties for the baker

included making muffins to supply co-operatives outside of Saskatoon. On occasion he

26
One of the full-time bakers was not available for an interview at the time of the research.
 76

would also bake specialty products for the store where he worked. He continued to work

the night shift until he applied for a transfer to a different store. His desire for a change in

work environment stemmed from his need to get away from working the night shift,

which he said had taken a physical toll on him.

The part-time baker at the Co-op also arrived at the bakery with ample experience

from other bakeries. His first job was as a baker at a small retail bakery in Regina,

Saskatchewan. The bakery he started at was fully a scratch bakery, and he received all of

his training on the job. In addition to making bread, he was also taught to make other

fancy products such as pastries. Before his arrival at the Co-op, this baker also had

managerial experience from an in-store bakery with a competing super-market franchise

in Saskatoon.

The bakery manager, like his fellow employees, is a skilled baker, who has

practiced his trade over many years. His first baking job was in a small retail bakery in a

rural Saskatchewan community. He expressed a long interest in baking, in large part due

to his mother’s dedication to home baking. His first position in a bakery was part-time,

and the bulk of his hours were worked over the summer. When he needed to find more

stable, year-round employment in the baking field, it was his father who informed him of

an opening with the Co-op. He started there as a baker’s assistant. His initial training at

the Co-op was on-the-job. However, his ambition was to become a journeyman baker and

to find a more senior position either within or outside of the Co-op.

He recognized, however, that with respect to baking there were few opportunities

for formal training. While he learned on-the-job from an extremely knowledgeable baker,

the Co-op did not offer any training that would help him to gain certification. The
 77

manager took it upon himself to advance his own training, taking several baking courses

through the Baking Council of Canada. It was only after the fact, when one of his

superiors found out what he had done, that he was reimbursed for the expenses involved.

After he completed the courses a full-time baking position opened up at the Co-

op. Having worked in this position for a few years, he decided that it was time to

challenge for his journeyman’s paper. This process proved logistically difficult as

Saskatchewan does not have a journeyman’s program for bakers. Individuals seeking this

designation must challenge an exam in Manitoba or Alberta. This expense would have

fallen on the baker had his manager at the time not stepped in. In many cases, the Co-op

does assist their workers financially if they opt to pursue training related to their position.

Once established as a baker in the co-operative system, the baker who is now the

bakery manager decided that he would like to pursue a career with the Co-op in a

management capacity. This aspect of training is well-supported by the Co-op. For his

managerial training, the baker was stationed at a Co-op in Regina where he trained for

approximately one month. By the end of that training period he was independently

managing the in-store bakery on a daily basis. Once his training was complete, he was

transferred to a Co-op in rural Saskatchewan. When a bakery manager position opened up

in Saskatoon, he applied and was awarded the position.

5.2.1.2 THE MANAGERS

The research process also included interviews with two other managers who had

responsibilities outside the bakery. The first of these was the manager of the grocery store

that contains the bakery that served as the primary research site; the second person was
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the manager at FCL who is responsible for overseeing the bakery operations for all

affiliated co-operatives in western Canada. The manager of the grocery store started

working at a co-operative grocery store in British Columbia as a part-time employee

while still in high school. Upon graduation in the late 1970s, he was promoted to

Assistant Grocery Manager, and later Grocery Manager. In addition to his career path in

the managerial stream, the individual also worked in the bakery for a period of six

months when one of the bakers was on leave. After his time in British Columbia, the

manager worked in an urban Alberta setting as one of their food store managers. In 1990,

after three years with the Alberta-based co-operative, he and his family relocated to

Saskatoon. From that time on, he has spent time as a store manager at all three of the Co-

op grocery stores in Saskatoon, and has been managing the store that served as the

primary research site since 2002 when the store opened.

All of his formal training toward the management of a grocery store was provided

by FCL. The first programs that he attended took place at what was then known as the

Co-operative College in Saskatoon. Each session, which included topics such as

supervision, recruitment, training, and financial management, would last one week. That

program has since been discontinued, and most training now occurs on a one-on-one

basis in the grocery stores with the costs covered by FCL. Employees looking to broaden

their managerial skills are also able to take courses in the school of business at the

University of Saskatchewan, and work toward a Business Administration Certificate

program (BAC). The program is well-suited for FCL, and individuals who take the

course have 75 per cent of the costs covered by FCL. The other 25 per cent is their own
 79

responsibility. The BAC course is tailored for individuals who are interested in career

options with FCL.

The manager at FCL, like the other key informants interviewed for this thesis, has

a long history with co-operatives. His first job, at the age of fifteen, was with a Co-op

bakery in rural Saskatchewan. After graduating high school, he moved on to a bakery

located in a Regina Co-op. He then went on to manage a bakery in a rural Saskatchewan

Co-op. After managing that Co-op for several years he left the organization to “spread his

wings, and to make sure that (baking) was what he wanted to do.” He quickly returned to

baking, although not with a co-operative. For several years he worked at a plant that was

working toward the development of frozen baked goods. After his tenure with that

enterprise he took a position at FCL as a bakery coordinator, essentially second in

command for bakery operations. After his superior left, he moved into the manager

position where he continues to work.

5.2.2 INDUSTRIAL FACILITY A

This factory is located in a western Canadian city and is almost 30 years old.

There have been relatively few changes in the production process over the life of this

plant. The facility produces bread and buns only, and as these are staple products the

production line has not needed significant alteration. Most of the changes have taken

place at the packaging end of the production line. The breads made in this facility are

shipped across Western Canada, although Alberta is the primary market. From start to

finish, the bread takes two and a half hours to prepare in this industrial facility. The

facility is able to produce approximately 110 loaves of bread per minute. On a day
 80

without maintenance the facility will bake over 155,000 loaves.27 The bakery is classified

as a fresh bakery, which means that at this particular plant they only produce fully baked

loaves and buns. The company owns other facilities in the area which are responsible for

‘prebakes’ or frozen products. At the time of the visit, the employee complement was as

follows: one production manager, three office staff (sales, book-keeping), four workers

on the bagging line, four shipper/receivers, three maintenance staff, and three individuals

working the bread production line. During the site visit, the bun line was shut down;

normally it would require three additional workers.

At the bread line, one worker tends to the mixing machine, although a semi-

automated process controlled by computers performs most of the mixing. The mixers

(two for bread) stand around 15 feet tall. Several pipes are attached to the top of the

mixer. In turn, these pipes lead to silos which house the major ingredients including,

flour, water, sugar, yeast, and the bread bases. As is the case with the in-store bakery,

bases developed by the company’s research and design department are used, as a part of

he chemically complex recipes. The amount of each ingredient fed into the mixer is

precisely measured to ensure the highest level of consistency from loaf to loaf. The

worker employed at the mixing station only adds certain more novel ingredients that are

required in small amounts. Given the size of the machine, however, a “small amount” is

equivalent to a four-gallon pail. The worker triggers the mixer by utilizing a simple

keypad, with no more controls than the spiral mixers in the Co-op bakery. When the mix

phase is completed (approximately 15 minutes depending on the dough), a large trough

automatically moves via a track over to the front of the mixer. The mixer then dumps the

dough into the trough-like bin, much like a front-end loader dropping a bucket of gravel
27
The facility produces bread 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
 81

into a dump truck. The amount of dough being dumped cannot exceed 800 kilograms

(1760 pounds), which is enough dough to make over 1700 loaves of bread. Sales volume

for this facility rarely requires that all batches be made to this size. The bin containing the

dough is then moved by automated machinery towards a conveyor belt and the dough

enters the next step of the process.

The bin is lifted (by machinery) above a floor level conveyor belt, and the dough

emerges from the bottom in a long, tube-like form, not unlike toothpaste. This dough

moves along the conveyor until it reaches an elevator that moves upward; as it does the

dough is divided into chunks. At the top of the lift, these large chunks are divided into

two smaller portions which will become loaves in later stages. These two separate balls

of dough are fed onto the same conveyor, but alternate from the left side to the right.

These new lines of dough then branch out on two different conveyor lines, each leading

to two different sheeters. The sheeters are fed through the top, and the dough drops

through the rollers and is flattened. The dough then moves onto a second conveyor where

it is rolled underneath a chain. At the end of this line, the rolled loaf is dropped into a

quadruple loaf pan. The pan then moves along the line into the proofer, where it stays for

the next hour. The proofer itself is a large structure with the capacity to house several

hundred loaves. The environment within the proofer is controlled by computer, which is

necessary as the conveyor moves through the proofer at all times. One employee attends

to the area in which the bread is divided, sheeted and rolled. The process, from

distribution bin and into the proofer, takes less than three minutes.

After the bread leaves the proofer, it rolls in the pans along the conveyor line past

a third employee. It is the responsibility of this individual to monitor the bread to make
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sure it is uniform and that all pans are full. In addition, they may be required to put lids

on the pans in the case that the loaves are to become square sandwich bread. The loaves

then continue on to a rotating oven. The trays are lined up, and 60 loaves enter the oven

at a given time. The oven has a capacity of 600 loaves. Baking time is usually 20

minutes, at 450 degrees, a temperature much hotter than that used for traditional baking.

The ability to bake at higher temperatures is achieved through the engineering of the

dough, which has been “perfected” over many decades of research and design. The oven

itself runs unmonitored and is only periodically checked for problems.

When the baking is complete, the bread proceeds along the conveyor line to the

removal station. The pans move under a roller with rows of small suction cups that grip

the bread and pull it from the pan. From this point two new conveyors take over. The first

takes the bread up into the rafters of the facility, where it travels in ovals in order to cool.

This track continues in spiral layers, developed to a length that allows the bread to cool

for close to an hour. A second conveyor takes the empty bread pans back to the start of

the production line. At no point in the entire process does an employee have direct

contact with any dough or with a baking pan.

Once the bread has cooled, it proceeds along the conveyor line to the slicing and

bagging station. Before being sliced, all the loaves pass through a metal detector to make

sure that they are ‘clean’. Once through this test, the bread is lined up and sliced by an

automatic slicer. It then moves into a chamber where it is bagged mechanically. The

bagged loaves move to a final conveyor where, depending on the type of bread, they are

arranged by the machine in the proper configuration of loaves and dropped onto plastic

pallets. The pallets are then stacked by forklift, and are ready for shipping.
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At the slicing and bagging station, the employees ensure that the proper bags are

loaded into the equipment, and make certain that the machinery does not jam. Any

problem needs to be rectified quickly or multiple loaves will be rendered waste. The

employees also perform quality control. These quality inspections include ensuring the

proper packaging is in place, the date is correct and clear, and that the correct number of

slices is included in every loaf. The inspections are spot inspections only. At the end of

the entire process, a saleable loaf of bread is produced.

5.2.3 INDUSTRIAL FACILITY B

When entering industrial facility B, the space appears cavernous. The huge

warehouse is home to several enclosed structures that dwarf some of the homes in my

own neighbourhood. These structures are the Mecatherm, an almost fully automated

bread-making machine which includes proofers, ovens, and freezers. The first step in the

process at the facility is the preparation of the mix. The bread line here is actually less

advanced in some respects than the one at facility A, despite the fact that it is newer. At

this facility, only the flour and water are added mechanically from silos. The rest of the

ingredients are measured out and added by workers. Given the complexity of the freezing

process that is the hallmark of the Mecatherm, the lack of automation in adding the

ingredients to the mixers stands as an anomaly. There are six workers in total for the two

lines. These workers are responsible for adding the sugars, yeast, oils, and bases to the

mixers. This facility uses tumble mixers for bagels but the breads are mixed in spiral

mixers like the ones used in the Co-op bakery. The mixers at this facility are
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approximately three times the size of those at the Co-op, however, and are also equipped

with dough lifters.

Upon completion of the mix, the workers use the lifter to elevate and tilt the bowl,

and then proceed to dump the dough into a bin. Here the work get a little more hands-on,

as at times the workers must cut the dough and remove it, work akin to that observed in

the Co-op bakery. Once the bin is full, it is manually wheeled over to an elevator. The

entire bin is then mechanically lifted and tilted, the dough falls into a large hopper. This

hopper leads to a dough divider, where the dough is pushed through the end of the hopper

and cut to the exact weight necessary for the loaf being produced. These portions of

dough fall onto a conveyor line which leads to the sheeter. After being rolled into a

standard loaf size, the dough can be further manipulated in the final machine process. At

the last stage, adjustments can be made to create different types of bread. On the day of

my site visit, one machine was producing rolls for a popular Canadian doughnut chain

and the other baguettes for a Texas grocery chain. At the end of the sheeting/forming

process, the loaves are dropped into the necessary pans which are put in place by the

workers who are also tending the mixers.

From the sheeter, the loaves are conveyed to the proofer. Once the bread pans (or

baking sheets) arrive at the proofer they are arranged in rows of four. The row of pans

then mechanically enters the proofer onto a platform just large enough to hold all the

pans. There are multiple platforms, stacked 30 or so high, which move up, then over, and

then down; the cycle is repeated several times until they have spent approximately an

hour in the proofing chamber. At the end of the cycle, they exit onto a conveyor and are
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shuffled into the scoring chamber. A machine scores28 the loaves mechanically with

several blades, enough to score 16 baguettes or 64 rolls at one time. This takes only a few

seconds.

After the loaves are scored they move into the oven to bake. The oven, like the

proofer, uses a series of elevators to move the baking breads through the continuous

process, the difference being that the bread moves through the oven much more rapidly.

After leaving the oven, the bread moves through a brief cooling stage. During this time

the bread spirals upward on conveyors, and then descends downward to the freezer. Once

again, the bread moves through a series of elevators during the freezing process.

Depending on the extent to which the bread is baked, and depending on customer

specifications, the bread can be in the freezer for anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes.

With the Mecatherm, bread making is almost an entirely automated process.

Because of this, workers are only continuously present and physically involved where the

mixes are prepared at the beginning of the process. Along the rest of the production line,

there is one employee who periodically walks the line to ensure the process is functioning

properly. According to the manager of facility B, the Mecatherm represents the most

advanced bread making technology in the world. Established in 1964 in France,

Mecatherm has been developing automated bread-making processes for over 40 years.

Their first fully automated production line for frozen bread products was introduced in

1985. The Megaline model at the research site was brought to market in 2000.29

28
A loaf is scored by making a small cut or cuts (only a few millimeters deep) along or across the top.
29
Information on Mecatherm was taken from the company website (http://www.mecatherm.fr/en/).
 86

5.3 DESKILLING APPLIED

The actual process of making bread in each of the bakeries described above is

quite similar with respect to the execution of a mix, panning the loaves, proofing and

baking. All three bakeries use similar inputs in terms of flours, bases, and other

ingredients, and the elapsed time to produce a loaf varies minimally. However, when

assessing the technological scale and social relations of production, the three bakeries

represent three rather different worksites.

Earlier in this thesis, the economic logics surrounding the restructuring of the

grocery industry were briefly addressed. It is important to reflect upon how the

marketplace, translated through the rationality of managers and owners, impacts the work

of bakers and alters the bread making process. The consolidation of grocers, the design of

supermarkets serving larger markets, and the increased demand for product consistency,

all have important implications for how bread is made. The bakers at the Co-op would

frequently estimate, rather than measure, the required amounts of each ingredient. While

the baked goods produced were generally consistent, one could see variation in the

products. On several occasions, I observed that the work of two different bakers would

result in the same bread having a slightly different appearance. With bakers rolling buns

by hand, varying the ingredients, or removing the bread from the ovens after different

amounts of elapsed time, the finished look of the bread would vary.

Once bagged, there would be slight differentiation between the loaves. While only

the most exacting customer would notice, there was nevertheless a slight amount of

variation to a systematic observer. Such inconsistencies frighten larger scale producers

and have contributed to the increased mechanization of the bread making process. As the
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manager at industrial facility B indicated, their corporate customers expect perfection,

there is a little tolerance for inferior product, and inconsistencies in the product delivered

will result in a loss of business. A marketplace where bread is bought and sold by the

thousands of loaves is not conducive to a bread making process controlled and conducted

by individuals. There is visible variation in the work of two bakers, never mind the

hundreds it would take to supply and stock a regional or national grocery chain. The

market pressures for consistency as well as low cost contribute to the growing

mechanization and automation of bread production methods.

Discussion of the market pressures that affect changes in the baking process sets

the stage for a broader discussion of deskilling. While market pressures may compel

larger businesses to look at new technologies that produce more consistent and safer

products, these technologies have implications for bakery workers. One approach to

evaluating Braverman’s deskilling hypothesis is to apply the findings from the field

research to Standing's three-part definition of skill. Approaching the analysis in this way

also provides an opportunity to critically assess Standing’s definition, and to work

towards an improved definition of skill. Furthermore, this analysis sets the stage for a

discussion of the results in relation to the Essential Skills program and the writings of

Braverman.

5.3.1 SKILL AS TECHNIQUE

Recalling the earlier literature review, the first component of skill is technique

(Standing, 1992). Here we are analyzing skill as the actual process of doing. In the

bakeries observed during the research process, there are significant implications for the
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techniques employed by workers as scale of the technologies increase. At the Co-op

bakery, a significant portion of the work is hands-on. For example, when preparing a

batch of white bread, the bakers would physically add the ingredients, they would make

sure that the mixer was set up properly, and use their senses to determine the readiness of

the dough. They could tell if the dough was ready for use when it felt right, or by the

slapping sound the dough would make against the dough arm when the mix was just

right. They could also determine if the dough was ready by its appearance. Once the

dough was ready, they would scale the dough by hand on an old fashioned balance.

From here, the workplace technologies would begin to play a greater role. The

bun rounder, dough divider, and sheeter, would be used in the formation of many

products, including standard loaves and most buns. Nevertheless, many of the specialty

products would still be made by hand, including cinnamon buns, tea buns, cheese twists,

and Parker buns. The formed products would be taken to the proofer to rise, and later

baked in the ovens. What is most notable about the baking and proofing times is that in

most cases the workers mentally internalize and calculate the time spent in each process.

Rather than a timer, it is this judgment and the appearance of dough that leads them to

remove the product from the proofer and bake it. While oven timers are set, the bakers

would frequently arrive to check on the product moments before the timers would alert

them.

Adjustments in the baking time were made based on the feel and appearance of

the products. On one occasion in the bakery there was a power outage. Without hesitation

the bakery manager, who was baking alone due to scheduling conflicts, looked at the

breads being baked, and reset the timers on the ovens. When asked how he knew how
 89

much time was left, he simply remarked that “they looked like they needed eight

minutes.” While the production technologies are designed to allow a certain output

capacity, it is obvious that the bakers working at the Co-op exhibit a high level of

practical and embodied knowledge, and physical prowess. They are very familiar with the

products they use, the rheological properties of the dough they work with, and what

constitutes a workable dough. They also exhibit body/hand skills that allow them to work

quickly and effectively to accomplish multiple tasks concurrently.

The bakers acknowledge that many of the skills and the knowledge that they

deploy in the workplace are the result of their years of experience. As the younger baker

remarked:

Yeah, it’s about experience. You can compensate for things, if you throw
a fast dough behind a slower dough you can cool the water off to slow it
down, there are lots of little tricks you can do. You can put things in the
oven at a lower temperature to get more jump out of them There’s lots of
different little tricks you can pick up that will help you be able to make
your day run smoother, but if you are not planning ahead you are going to
wind up in trouble in proofing a lot of things, product getting wrecked,
ruined.

Over time, each of the bakers has developed an intimate knowledge of the baking

process. This allows them to ensure that they deliver a consistent (though not necessarily

identical) product to the store shelves. Moreover, when complications arise in the course

of the workday they are able to resolve the issues quickly and effectively.

If you’re out something and it’s a sale item, and you haven’t made enough
the first time, you have to be able to react. All of a sudden, the 60 loaves
that you made that you figured was going to get you through, somebody’s
looking for it at one o’clock in the afternoon, then you have to be flexible
enough to make some more if you want to make your sales, and that takes
some experience. Probably a few bad days to get the point home too!
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For the bakers, understanding the time required for the preparation of the different breads

and observing and understanding how the dough behaves through the bread making

process is crucial. Rigidity with respect to the timing of the workday can be

counterproductive. There is also a need to quickly recognize what is happening with the

product; failure to do so may result in wastage and increase the pressure on the bakers to

replace a batch of bread. As one baker remarked:

You know basically when (the dough) should be ready and you keep an
eye on the goods when you put a rack in the proofer, and you see that this
has about ten minutes. Oh cool, the oven is done in nine so it will be going
there. And you just work it out. Time after time, day after day, I mean, you
realize that okay you’ve got time, that when this comes out, this (has to)
go in, so you better be ready. You know, leave it outside of the proofer for
20 minutes if necessary, if it’s getting too big and then go from there.

The internalization of the work process, the deep knowledge of baking, and the

skills required to bake are not seemingly threatened by the technologies in the bakery that

are used in mixing, forming, and baking of bread and bakery products. There are,

however, technologies in the workplace that do threaten the skills of the workers. The

bread bases and mixes especially, are problematic for the workers. Mixes developed

outside of the bakery are increasingly prevalent. In almost two weeks of observation, I

only saw a handful of products being made from scratch. On a daily basis, the only

scratch product that was made was 100% whole wheat bread. The process for making this

bread included scaling the flours, sugar, yeast, wheat bran, and salt, and carefully adding

the liquids (water and molasses). Other products made from scratch included biscuits

(assorted types), cookies, carrot cakes and muffins, and bran muffins. However, these

products only needed to be made once every few days. In all cases except the biscuits, the

bakers would make large amounts of the batter and refrigerate them for later use. With
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the exception of these products, all other baked goods were primarily a mix of flour,

water, yeast, and a specific (industrial) base.

The bases are the black box technologies of the bakeries. They are designed to

provide a consistent, commercially acceptable, and palatable product. The bases were not

fully understood by the bakers, though they all recognized that their use can speed up the

process and yield consistent bread. However, when asked about ingredients such as

calcium propionate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, and enzymes, none of the bakers were able

to explain what they were or what their function was. These three ingredients are key

actors in the development of no-time dough; working together they significantly reduce

the time needed for bread to mix, rise, and bake.

One baker mentioned that he strongly dislikes the mixes. Having made bread

from scratch on the nightshift for almost ten years, he is bothered by the emergence of

bread bases.

It took me a long time to get used to that stuff. I mean, I took it as an

affront. Okay, fine I’m not good enough to make this stuff, and basically
as time wore on it was just one less thing I have to make. And you move
on. I’d rather go back to scratch. I think they last longer on the shelf. I
think we have enough additives in our systems that we don’t need to be
adding more to them. You know like, dough conditioners and stuff like
that. Let’s go back to the regular scratch recipes.

He recalled an occasion where the bread he was making with the base was continually

flopping. When he approached management about the problem, the immediately

questioned him about what he was doing wrong. It was not until after they had watched

him go through the process over again that they finally concluded something was wrong

with the base itself.

 92

The baker found two things frustrating about this situation. First, he was upset by

the reluctance of management to take his word that there was something wrong with the

product. The managers had put their faith in the “infallible” technology over the worker.

Second, had the baker “flopped” a batch of bread he was making from scratch, he would

have been able to retrace his steps and determine went wrong; with the mix doing so is

impossible—it is beyond his control). Had the bad batch been the result of his error in

making the bread from scratch he would have accepted the blame and redoubled his

efforts to produce a new batch of bread. Instead, time was wasted making another bad

batch, and arranging for the removal and replacement of the mix. Furthermore, he still

had to bake from scratch to satisfy the product demands for the day.

The interviews with the bakers revealed a strong sense of craft-pride. The

introduction of the mixes was perceived as a loss of control and as an affront to their

status as skilled workers and artisans. As one baker remarked:

I don’t like counting on anybody else. And that’s what we are doing when
we bring in a bread mix. They screw it up at the plant, and the first thing
that happens is that our manager looks at us and asks us “what did you do
wrong?” I don’t know, we didn’t do nothing wrong, this stuff is crap.

The decision to use these mixes does not lie with the bakers but with the bakery

manager at Federated Co-operative Limited (FCL), who, in his own words, chooses to

use these inputs in order to “produce a consistent product” and “speed up the production

time for the bakers.” When looking at the disparate positions of the bakers and managers,

we see the struggle for control over the process of work, a hallmark of the deskilling

hypothesis. The fact that the mixes are entering the workplace at the behest of managers,

despite the preferences of the bakers, can be taken as evidence for deskilling. In the case

of skill as technique, we can see how the mixes reduce many of the cognitive demands
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originally part of the skill sets of bakers. Complex numeracy skills are fading, as fewer

measurements are required. Further, bakers no longer need to understand the interactions

between ingredients; that aspect of bread-making knowledge is removed from the bakery

and embedded in the test kitchen and laboratory-formulated industrial bases.

Similar to the introduction of industrial bases, the use of frozen dough and

products has significantly altered bakery work. Fancy products that formerly demanded

the most intricate skills and knowledge of the bakers are no longer made from scratch in

the bakeries. In a discussion focused on major changes in the baking industry one of the

bakers stated the biggest change in the industry over his baking career has been the

introduction of frozen dough.

It’s frozen dough, oh yeah. Frozen dough and with frozen dough it opens
up so many different places, you know like [small unconventional bakery
site]. There is only so many dollars that are going to be spent in Saskatoon
on baking. I mean more and more people are buying baking, yeah. Less
people have time to do their own home baking, that’s another dying art. I
mean, mothers used to bake to home, who has time anymore? Nobody,
with today’s society. But, the frozen dough allows more places to open
and there’s less smaller pieces of the pie for whoever is out there. I mean,
it may not be big slice, just little bites, like another Tim Horton’s opening
up, ‘baking’ their own buns and whatever little deal. I mean, there again.
They’re not mixing their own, they’re bringing in frozen buns, they thaw
out, proof up, and bake off. There’s your fresh bun. The (customer) figures
it was made in the back. It was probably made six months before in
Regina.

For this particular baker, the introduction of frozen dough into the marketplace has been a

trigger for deskilling in the baking industry.

You don’t need to know whole lot anymore. I mean nobody makes, maybe
some of the small independents will make their own puff pastries, their
own Danish. I have vague memories how to make that. I mean, yeah,
could I make my own Danish pastry? Yeah, with a recipe, yeah I could
probably wing it. I haven’t made it in 25 years, you don’t need to, you can
bring it in frozen. I mean, that’s what’s happening. Like I say with the
(small unconventional bakery), they throw the frozen loaf on a pan, put it
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in the fridge overnight, proof it and bake it off. They don’t have to mix
nothing, they don’t have to worry about whether that dough is over-mixed,
under-mixed. Whether the ingredients are right. They don’t need to know
all that knowledge as to how to mix something. That’s what’s being lost.

Further to the lament of this baker with regard to the loss of baking knowledge,

the bakers exhibited a certain skepticism about the motives for introducing frozen

products into the baking industry. When questioned with respect to why retail bakeries

choose to bring in bake-offs (frozen products), one baker responded that the products are

most certainly money-savers:

If they don’t have to pay people, it used to take me an hour, maybe a bit
more, before I could even work doughnuts off, and now you can throw it
on the table, put it into heads and then work them off almost immediately.
You don’t have the same difficulty, and if they can make it easier they can
pay people less to do it. You’re also saving yourself time. Well the
company saves themselves the labour, because you have to do this and
this, it’s more money for the store. I understand fully why they do it, it’s
just kind of sad.

Industrial bases play a similar role in the industrial bakeries. In the case of facility

A, there was no one working to prepare the mixes; the entire process was mechanized and

computerized. In facility B, some workers are still required to manually add ingredients

but the necessary additions were basically add-ins, usually measured and put in with large

buckets. In these facilities, the process of making bread is, for all intents and purposes, a

mechanized and computerized process. Machines form the loaves/buns, place them in

pans, score them, precisely execute the proofing and baking times, and may also package

the bread. The workers in these facilities require little or no knowledge of how to make

bread or what to do in the case that an operation fails. In both of these facilities, a

breakdown in production is solved by mechanics not the line workers.

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The workers in the industrial bakeries are adjuncts to the machines, there only to

monitor and to perform relatively simple tasks. In these facilities, the process of making

bread has be recreated as a scientific, mechanical, and technological process. Bread is

baked, but there are no bakers. As mentioned, when there is a problem with the process,

the line workers are not called upon to correct the issue, only to report it for someone else

to fix. This is in stark contrast to the Co-op bakery where it is the bakers who are called

upon to solve problems and repair machines. Maintenance of machinery in the Co-op is

the responsibility of the bakers: they are the first option. If they cannot perform the

necessary repair, then an outsider is called in.

The bakers at the Co-op maintain an intimate understanding of the tools of their

trade. As an example, when the proofer failed at the Co-op, rather than the operation

coming to a standstill, one of the bakers used his knowledge to address the problem. The

purpose of the proofer is to keep the bread warm and humid in order to allow the yeast to

act and the dough to rise. The baker created a functioning proofer by using two electric

kettles inside the broken proofer to increase the temperature and introduce moisture into

the environment. In addition, the baker noted it was important to minimize time opening

and closing the proofer so as to not lose the moisture introduced by the kettles. This

example points to the resourcefulness of the bakers in solving problems, and to their

ability to continue the work process when dealing with smaller-scale technologies. If the

proofer at either of the industrial facilities failed, the only option would be to stop the line

and to call in a technician to make the necessary repairs.

The above discussion points to the importance of scale and automation when

assessing the role of technologies on changing skill sets. In the Co-op bakery where the
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machines being used are significantly smaller, the impact on the skills of workers is

considerably reduced. The mixers are the same height as the bakers and the bowls are

similar in size to the drums of a large domestic washing machine. The dough divider and

bun rounder stand chest high on an average individual, and the sheeter is the size of an

office desk, only slightly narrower and approximately a foot taller.

The sheeter and the bun rounder have significantly reduced the work of bakers as

they no longer have to form all their products by hand. These technologies are also long-

standing tools of the trade and have changed little over the last several decades. Sheeters

have long been used as a mechanical aid to increase the productive capacity of the

bakery. In speaking with the bakers, the only change they could recall with respect to the

bun rounder was that they had moved away from stainless steel trays and instead use

plastic polymer. These bakers are quite intimately acquainted with the machines. They

understand their functioning and mechanics and, when necessary, can repair them. In the

case that a machine needs to be sent out for repairs, the bakers can cope and proceed to

create the product by hand. As one baker remarked “it would just take a lot longer.” The

only problem that could not be overcome by the Co-op bakers would be the loss of both

ovens.

This arrangement is in stark contrast to the mammoth production lines of the

industrial bakeries. In these facilities the failure of any machine effectively results in the

shutdown of the line for repair. The line workers in these facilities rarely contribute to

solving the problem. If the problem requires extensive downtime, the workers are sent

home. With respect to the bread making process, the escalating scale of the technologies

used helps to strip the workers of historical bread making skills. This aspect of the
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deskilling of food workers is exacerbated by the advancement of black box technologies

such as those involved in the development of industrial bases and bread mixes. This is

one place where both groups of workers studied experience a loss in skill. In industrial

facility A, no one even sees what enters the mixer—save one worker who adds extra

ingredients when necessary. In facility B, while some ingredients are added, most are not

exposed to the workers. In both of these facilities, little knowledge about bread making is

exhibited; neither facility requires any experience making bread as a prerequisite to

employment. The bases and mixes are the largest contributor to deskilling in the Co-op

bakery. With the increased introduction of bases, mixes, and frozen products (discussion

to follow), the bakers less frequently utilize the skills and knowledge they have cultivated

over time.

According to one baker in the Co-op, the introduction of mixes completely

changes bakery work, making it a job that anyone can do. He related that at the previous

grocery chain where he had worked, he was the only person in the bakery who had any

training or experience specific to baking. The employees he worked with were often

students who sought part-time employment. This account of the staff at a competing retail

bakery, coupled with the processes observed at the industrial bakery, creates a strong case

for the existence of deskilling among food workers as a result of advancements in

technologies and their introduction into the workplace.

5.3.2 AUTONOMY IN THE WORKPLACE

Standing’s second component of skill refers to the autonomy a worker has over

his or her work process and work environment. Having a central role in the decision
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making process fosters the development of a workplace in which employees find

satisfaction and meaning in their work. The observation and interview process revealed a

steady decline in the autonomy experienced by workers involved in baking. The

discussion of autonomy necessarily involves some overlap with the previous sections, as

many aspects of workplace and work process reorganization affect skill in terms of

autonomy and technique.

On a day-to-day basis, the workers in the Co-op bakery exhibit considerable

autonomy. Decisions about how much of each product to bake, and what order to bake

the products in, are at least partly the discretion of the bakers. The decisions they make

are dictated in part by the demands of consumers and the marketing plans of the

managers, but, to some degree, the bakers determine what baked goods to have on the

store shelves. As one baker remarked:

Yeah, well (we) put out what is necessary. It makes sense, like I said, if
we’ve got enough bread of the Alpine to get us until 2 or 3 o’clock, there’s
no sense in making that at nine if we need Canadian grain. The second guy
coming in during the day, his days will change, his days are never the
same, because I finish off what (the early baker) leaves me. Okay, now
what do I need. Maybe today I need cookies, tomorrow I need cake, the
next day I need banana rolls. Or the next day I need muffin mixes.
Whatever I’m out of on the floor, I mean basically it’s a fire sale. You put
out what fires you can and leave the rest for tomorrow. You have to be
flexible. Something goes on sale, you can’t you run on a rigid shift, I don’t
feel. If you’re out something and it’s a sale item, and you haven’t made
enough the first time. All of a sudden, the 60 loaves that you made that
you figured was going to get you through, somebody’s looking for it at
one o’clock in the afternoon, then you have to be flexible enough to make
some more if you want to make your sales. The key is too understand how
the changing demands are going to affect your day, and you have to make
smart decisions about when to make what.

This account was reiterated by a fellow baker who also indicated that “(the bakery

manager) leaves it up to us really…he knows that if we have orders that we’ll prioritize
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those and try to get those done first.” The bakery manager corroborated the perspective of

the bakers and the role they play in determining the daily production:

I like to see most of the staff work out their own routines. Our bakers are
very experienced and they know what needs to get done. It’s rare that I
have to make any changes to what they are doing. Once in a while I’ll
have to step in and say “Okay, this isn’t working as good as it should.” I
know after working as a baker for a number of years, what the
expectations should be to get a certain amount of product done by a
certain amount of time. And then I work with the guys here as much as I
can too. So if I see where there’s a routine that probably isn’t as good as it
should be, or something we should be doing different, I try to step in and
suggest something differently. I want to hear the guys’ opinions too and
see what they think – what they think on the issue as well. There may be a
good, logical explanation for some of the things that I think maybe could
be done better. It’s something you gotta talk about with them.

Despite certain flexibility and autonomy with respect to the organization of their

work flow, the recipes that FCL provides to the bakeries also put important limits product

decisions. There are two recipe books in the Co-op bakery. The first is a small book

found on the baker’s worktable. It is there for quick reference about core bakery recipes.

The other recipe book is a large black binder containing hundreds of recipes, many of

which are not used. The use of these recipes is another limiting factor for bakers and a

means for management to exert control over the workplace. Deviation from the recipes in

the book is seldom permitted. On any given day in the bakery, the bakers will bake 20 to

25 racks of baked goods. The demands of consumers, and the need to maintain efficiency

in the bakery, necessitate that the racks be full and the baking schedule suitable. The

baking process is made even more complex when the preceding stages of the process are

considered, such as how long bread has to rise in the proofer, the time it takes to form all

of the products from the dough, and even how long it takes to mix the dough.
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On most days in the bakery, the bakers begin with the 100% whole wheat bread.

As a scratch recipe, it is more time-consuming to mix, and it is best not to have that

mixing conflict with the production of larger mixes such as the 60% whole wheat bread,

white bread, and sweet dough. However, some mornings I would arrive at the bakery

around 5:00am to find the bakers working on other breads. On one occasion they decided

to start with the 60% whole wheat because the previous day’s sales were so brisk.

Referring back to the need to maximize the amount of bread on each baking rack, one

morning the baker decided to make the rye bread first. Typically the rye breads are

produced at the end of the baking day (meaning it would be baked by noon), but because

there was open rack space he opted to make rye bread early.

Decisions about such things as the sequencing of breads and other baked items are

left to the bakers. On many occasions the bakery manager, the bulk of whose duties were

inventory, budgeting, scheduling, and dealing with personnel issues, would need to assist

in the baking process. During my observation period the occurrences of the manager

becoming directly involved in baking were more frequent due to a staffing problem.

When the manager came to assist in the baking process, he would defer many questions

about what to make or do next to the regular bakers, who are technically his subordinates.

When asked why he did so, he remarked that the bakers know what needs to get done

better than he does. This is a direct result of the autonomy the bakers have in arranging

their work day. In this respect, the work occurring in the bakery has shown some level of

skill retention, especially when compared to the workers at the industrial bakeries.

It appears that the workers at the industrial facilities have absolutely no input into

what is produced and when. A production manager coordinates the product decisions and
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the logistics of production. The products are developed by individuals who are not on

site. At industrial facility A, the production manager is involved in the development of

the breads but that development does not happen on site. A team of highly skilled

technicians with food science backgrounds works independently on product development.

The work done by these individuals is conducted in a manner similar to that described in

the literature involving experiments with extenders and conditioners. According to the

production manager at facility A, the work environment where the products are

developed is most aptly described as a hybrid of a kitchen and a scientific laboratory. On

occasion, this team will meet with the equally skilled production managers to assess the

new developments, and strategize about which products to bring to market.

The situation at facility B is similar. A production coordinator, who is a graduate

of a Masters of Science program in food science, oversees the production process. This

individual is not actually involved in the development process but is on site to ensure that

the ‘recipe’ being used is producing the desired end product. The production coordinator

has the authority to alter the recipe at her discretion, but only in the case that the end

product is not as originally desired. The structure of these work environments represents

a model that is heavily coordinated at the top, where most of the decision-making

prerogative lies with experts and with upper management. The production of the bread is

highly mechanized and relies upon an unskilled, and easily replaced, labour force.

As indicated earlier, there is still a relatively high level of autonomy in the Co-op

bakery, but changes are happening that severely threaten that independence and the skills

of the bakers. While the bakers have some authority to determine what to bake (and in

what order), those decisions are limited by FCL. The bakery manager at FCL makes the
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vast majority of the decisions with respect to the product line offered at the Saskatoon

Co-ops. This also pertains to the use of new technologies and the increased use of bread

bases, already mentioned as a key agent of deskilling, and the increased use of frozen

products. The introduction of frozen products has likewise impacted the skill set of the

Co-op bakers, and has given the bakers a different outlook on the future of their

occupation. On separate occasions, each of the bakers in this facility proclaimed that

baking is a dying trade. It is not difficult to understand why frozen products have been

central to this perception.

A mere six years prior to this study, most of the Co-op bakers were still preparing

pastries from scratch. As the bakery manager indicated:

In the old days, we used to make our own puff pastry; we used to make
our own pies and tart shells and all that stuff. We’d make our own
croissants. All that stuff’s time-consuming and [it] makes more sense to
buy it these days from an outside supplier. And just proof and serve it or
thaw and serve it.

The once time-consuming process is now quick and efficient. The longer it takes to make

a product, the less profitable it is going to be. With cost effectiveness in mind—and

product consistency across the chain also a concern—frozen pastries were introduced into

the bakeries. According to one baker, whereas he used to enjoy making pastry and was

very good at it, he doubts that he could do it as well as he used to. In his case, this

appeared to be a humbling admission of skill erosion and degradation. The bakers

themselves would have liked to continue making pastries but understood why they were

being brought in frozen; in their own words they were “money savers.”

What is at issue here is that the bakers are generally not included in the decision

making process with respect to the products they will make. Product decisions are
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primarily the domain of the manager at FCL. Only on rare occasions have the bakers

developed products that were adopted into the citywide network of Co-op grocery

stores—let alone at the level of FCL.

Product decisions are only one way in which the autonomy of the bakers may be

undermined. FCL also makes virtually all the choices with respect to bakery design.

When they arrived at the newly constructed Co-op store, the bakers found the bakery

already completed; they had no opportunity to provide input into the design. Only the

bakery manager had the opportunity to give some feedback on the design, most of which

was dismissed, including a minor request for a small change area with lockers for the

bakers. With respect to the equipment being used, the well-being of the bakers is not

necessarily a priority. In making the dough, the batches being mixed often weigh 200

pounds upon completion. The dough has to be removed from the mixing bowl in as few

lifts as possible in order to maximize efficiency. However, the design of the mixer is such

that the bakers removing the dough have no choice but to lift with their backs—as

opposed to properly lifting with their legs. The process of lifting in excess of 1,000

pounds of dough a day, anywhere from five to seven days a week, takes a significant

physical toll. This strain could be avoided by installing a dough lifter at a seemingly

modest cost of $700. The repeated requests of the bakers have gone unheeded. Even an

upgrade to a digital scale, from the antiquated (and broken) balance, is denied. With

respect to both product and bakery design decisions the workers are marginalized and

experience a loss of an important dimension of skill.

A clear indicator of the ongoing process of deskilling in the co-operative network

is in the design of the new Calgary co-operative grocery stores. In those stores the in-
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store bakeries are being eliminated. Consumers looking for a fresh loaf of bread have to

bake for themselves or go elsewhere in search of an alternative local or commercial

bakery. Within the Saskatoon Co-op system, bakery workers exhibit some autonomy in

the organization of their workday but have no control and little say regarding key

decisions. The manager for FCL acknowledges that major changes are being

implemented in terms of how co-op grocery stores produce their bread:

Since I’ve been around it is much more automated in the bakeries that still
are scratch. There is more automation as far as the processing of the
doughs after they’re mixed. Less hand cutting, less hand rolling, those
kinds of things. Also, just the scratch bakery itself is becoming an extinct
part of what we do. Par-baked products, thaw and sell precuts, pre-proofed
products, there’s all kinds of technologies out there that you don’t have to
make or form dough anymore…We are predominantly bake-off now. In
our system we have 139 bakeries and bake-offs. About 40 of them are
scratch/mix type bakeries, and the rest are bake-offs. And that is kind of
inverted from what it was when I started this job. When I started as the
bakery director here we were predominantly scratch and less bake-offs and
now that is turned right around.

Retaining skill levels in the bakery, and elsewhere in food production, is further

complicated by the increased corporatization of the food system and the consolidation

and integration of many firms involved in production. As large grocers increase their

market share and solidify their brand identities, many of the bread companies are doing

likewise. The need for a consistent products across large markets calls for standardized

inputs, including flour.

The fourth research site in this investigation was a flour milling operation in

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The mill ships its flours across North America but the flour is

more than just milled wheat. The mill adds the extenders and conditioners, such as

ascorbic acid, to the flour. These treatments, as they are labeled by the manager of the

mill, a miller with 28 years of experience, are designed outside of the mill. The millers
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follow the directives of the customers who work in tandem with specialists at other firms

in the design of the mixes. In Saskatoon, the firm responsible for developing the mixes

formerly also manufactured them. During time this thesis was being researched, the firm

sold the manufacturing operations to the mill, relocated its research and development

from Saskatoon to Michigan, and reconfigured its Saskatoon operation as a marketing

office for Western Canada.

Restructuring and reorganization such as this may make communication difficult

and solutions hard to attain when things do go wrong with inputs at the bakery. In the

past, FCL and the Co-op bakers could call on the supplier when they needed to

troubleshoot problems with the mixes; while they were outside of the development

process at least they had access to the key knowledge workers. Under this new system,

the miller becomes responsible for production but has no knowledge of the development

process. The isolation of the miller from the design process results in further isolation

from the process for the Co-op and, particularly, for its bakers. Historically, bakers and

millers would collaborate in the development of bread flours and breads. Now bakers

more closely resemble adjuncts to proprietary mixes and large-scale machinery in a

heavily industrialized production chain. Their (dwindling) knowledge of bread making is

seldom drawn upon in the development of new products. Knowledge is the capacity to

understand the multiple dimensions that characterize any labour process—to grasp the

variety of mechanisms that, as a chain, transform the labour process into a single coherent

activity (Diaz & Stirling, 2003). In this environment the bakers experience increased

levels of deskilling and erosion of their knowledge base.

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5.3.3 SKILL AS SOCIAL STANDING

In Standing’s (1992) definition of skill, social standing is a result of the interplay

of skill as technique and the autonomy of the worker. The increased role of advanced

technologies in the bread making process, especially large-scale, automated machinery

and black box technologies such as bases and baking mixes, contribute to the degradation

of the work process. Skill as technique in the making of bread has been, and continues to

be, diminished in the Co-op bakeries; at the industrial bakeries it is rarely exhibited. The

autonomy of the workers has also been diminished in both cases. Decisions at the Co-op

bakery are less the domain of the bakers (and of their immediate supervisor) and are

increasingly the prerogative of more senior managers who spend little time in the bakery.

At times the manager at FCL will consult the bakers when deciding if a product is

appropriate for the co-operative bakeries. For example, he will have the bakery managers

test products in their bakeries and ask for their feedback on the product. For the most

part, however, product decisions are made without the input of bakery managers so as not

to “bog (the managers) down.” It is responsibility the manager at FCL to investigate new

products and to make decisions with respect to carrying or implementing those products

in the co-operative system.

The role of the bakers in these product decisions is minimal. The bakers appear to

accept the reality that their input is not important in the long-term planning of the bakery.

As one baker summarized:

I come up with an idea and I say my idea and if it flies it flies, if it doesn’t
that’s about it. That’s about the input I have, I have the idea. Really, when
it comes to something, I can suggest it to the management and if the
management doesn’t like it there’s nothing I can do. I’m not going to push
an issue, it’s not really worth my time.
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On an occasion when a key piece of equipment had been purchased, the bakers

had absolutely no input. The baker’s account was that the machine was an

absolute disaster. For the most part, the issue was that the machine would have

been useful if only it had a larger capacity for dough. The hopper of the machine

could only accommodate 25 pounds of dough at a time when the batch size was

frequently 400 pounds of dough. The baker was frustrated by the need to

constantly refill the machine. The action of going back and forth constituted a loss

of valuable time that could have been applied better to other tasks. What needs to

be taken from this account is that perhaps consultation with the bakers before

implementation would have been appropriate to avoid problems that rendered the

machine almost useless.

The lack of an invitation into the decision-making process is indicative of

the declining status of the bakers in the Co-op system. The manager seemingly

understands the impact that changes are having on the bakers. The deskilling

process began even before his arrival, but has accelerated as a result of changes

brought on by more numerous product options and more price-conscious

competition in the marketplace. As the director recalls:

The move to mixes from scaling ingredients occurred before I came to

Federated. That was probably in the late 70s, early 80s when that
happened. Mixes and bases had been around but most people didn’t use
them because they weren’t affordable. So, as everything evolved they
became a bigger part of the business. And for guys like (name deleted)
who’s a baker, and has been baking since he was 18 years old at the Co-op
in Saskatoon…for him, his whole world is baking, and that’s threatening
to him, right? Because, “Gosh, are you going to need me to bake a loaf of
frozen white bread?” Well, we don’t need your knowledge for you to open
a case, right? We need your knowledge if we’re doing what we’re doing
there now, but if that process changes there, who do you need, right? What
kind of a qualification do you need? So, it’s interesting.
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This passage illustrates that the impact new technologies have on bakers is not

lost on their managers. While an awareness of issues related to skills is evident,

the Co-op still has to compete in a very price conscious market. These changes do

not bode well for the bakers as they strive to preserve their craft. However, for the

time being, they fair significantly better than their counterparts at the industrial

bakeries.

The workers of the industrial bakeries have no input into product or production

decisions. The failure to retain these aspects of skill in industrial bakery work

environments, and also within flour mills, results in a decreased social standing for

bakers and allied workers. The evidence for the deskilling of bakers is manifold and

manifest.

5.4 DESKILLING: AN UNEVEN PROCESS

There is a further issue with respect to deskilling that does not coincide with

Standing’s three-part definition of skill. While skill as technique, autonomy in the

workplace, and social standing are useful tools to use in aid of understanding the changes

in skill levels for an occupation, it is also important to understand skill in terms of

knowledge and training. The way in which an enterprise makes use of and reproduces

knowledge can be useful indicators of how skill levels are changing.

Throughout the research process, it became evident that there is an imbalance

between the skills that the Co-op consumes and the skills that it produces with respect to

baking. The Co-op seeks out skilled bakers for its baking operations. All three bakers and

the bakery manager at the research site had previous experience in baking before they
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began their work with the Co-op. There is logic in this practice. As the bakery continues

to make some product from scratch, it is in their interest to recruit people who are well

versed in how to bake. As one baker stated:

They hire people with experience so that we pick up quick, and they just
throw you in there. They basically gave me one week where I was
working with other people, and basically after that I was working by
myself. Like I said, they hire experienced people that should be able to
figure it out. I mean, granted it is nice to see these people already know
how to work these mixes. It’s nice to watch them to figure it out, learn
from them. But sometimes, the first time I made banana rolls here, no one
showed me. I just saw that this is supposed to be a roll and it’s turned out
every time.

In this instance, without an experienced baker on staff it may have been difficult to get

the product onto the shelves. The Co-op bakery relies on skilled bakers but does little to

ensure that they produce a new generation of skilled bakers, at least where credentials are

concerned. There is a process of continuous learning in the Co-op bakery, but it is

informal and more specifically related to dealing with the nuances of baking rather than

the systematic advancement of baking knowledge. The bakery manager discusses this in

the following passage:

It’s, the more you do something, the better you get at it, more or less. The
shop conditions will change somewhat. You’ll get different hardness of
water at one place, you’ll get different humidity at another place and so
the way you do your doughs and stuff at one place might vary from the
way you do them in another. So you’d always be learning there if you’re
always jumping around. All of our bakers had bakery experience before
they came here. I’m sure (the part-time baker) applied a lot of that when
he started, but I mean, he’s come a long ways since coming here. It’s just
something you learn as you go down the road. And working with the guys
who have the experience helps too.

The full-time baker also reflects upon the lack of bakery specific training:

Well basically, the training I got from my (first employer) is the training I
got for here. They’ve never set squat for training. They send you to these
courses on how to deal with people. But you learn from making mistakes,
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doing it. You learn from the other guys that are here. That’s one bad thing
about bakery, it’s the fact that no one wants to share their little secrets
with you. “I learned it the hard way, by doing it, now you learn it.” And
that’s what’s happening to the trade. I mean, more and more of that is
happening. And more and more these guys are retiring or dying, and all
the old trade is pretty much gone to a large extent.

These stories illustrate two crucial issues. First, with respect to baking, the Co-op

does very little to ensure that it trains a new generation of skilled bakers. At the same

time they draw from a labour pool that has been trained outside the co-operative system.

This creates a skills deficit, where at the end of a baker’s tenure with the Co-op, the Co-

op has not necessarily replaced those skills in a new generation of bakers. Second, the

story provided by the full-time baker demonstrates that the training the bakers receive is

typically more generic and relates mostly to customer relations.30 In this respect the

training implemented by the Co-op is not about unskilling the bakers, rather it applies

more directly to ensuring that the store provides its members/customers with a pleasant

shopping experience.

The Co-op does not offer bakery-specific training to the bakers, but if the bakers

do choose to advance their training they do have options. First, those individuals who

wish to advance their baking skills and knowledge can opt to pursue their journeyman’s

papers outside of the province. In the event that a baker chooses to do this, the Co-op will

assist them in that pursuit. But this represents a passive approach to training; the Co-op

relies on the initiative of the bakers rather than proactively encouraging the bakers to

further their education as it pertains to baking. In contrast to bakery training, those bakers

who wish to pursue management opportunities within the co-operative system have much

30
Informal conversations with the manager of the Co-op grocery store revealed that the training courses the
full-time baker referred to are for all Co-op grocery store employees regardless of their position or
department.
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better prospects. The Co-op provides training programs for individuals in many aspects

of management, including a program specific to the management of a Co-op bakery.

However, this form of educational commitment on the part of the Co-op does not

(re)produce skilled bakers.

When we look at the knowledge and skills and training within the Co-op bakery

we can identify two patterns with respect to deskilling. First, skill deficits are created

when an enterprise makes a conscious effort to staff their work environments with well

trained and experienced individuals, while simultaneously doing very little to train or

upgrade the skills of its workers. In the case of the Co-op, all of their bakers learned their

trade under the tutelage of experienced bakers before coming to the Co-op. As a group of

bakers, however, they have little to teach each other with respect to baking. Most of what

the bakers teach each other pertains to timesaving measures in their daily routines.

Second, and related to the first point, there is a lifecycle to deskilling. When the full-time

baker refers to baking as a dying trade due to attrition, he is cognizant of the fact that as a

baker he knows less than those who trained him. This loss of knowledge is exacerbated

by the advent of new bakery technologies, in particular mixes and bases. As the full-time

baker now approaches his retirement, he has less knowledge to pass on compared to the

generation before him. One can only imagine what the state of baking might be like when

the younger bakers in the Co-op decide to leave the trade. Bakers as we now understand

the occupation may practically cease to exist outside a few high-end, specialty bakeries

and restaurants, a thought that leads us to the discussion of bakery work in the context of

the Essential Skills program.

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5.5 ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND BAKERY WORK

The Essential Skills (ES) program was developed under the guise of being a tool

to adequately prepare Canadian workers for the emergent knowledge-based economy. In

some ways the focus on a so-called knowledge economy is precisely the problem when

investigating the skills of bakers and other workers in the food sector. Many occupations

in the food sector appear to be significantly undervalued in the profiles of the ES

database. As noted earlier, bakers are conspicuously absent from the occupation database.

Instead, they fall under the category of Process Control and Machine Operators: Food and

Beverage Processing. This section provides a more in-depth analysis of this category of

worker. Further, the profile for these workers will be compared to the skills exhibited by

the bakers studied at the Co-op bakery, as well as the workers observed in the industrial

baking facilities. Beyond the analysis of workers and labour processes, the ES program

itself is further examined. This analysis focuses on how the ES program incorporates

many of the assumptions and characteristics of earlier approaches based on Taylor’s

pioneering work in scientific management.

The Essential Skills profile for Process Control and Machine Operators: Food and

Beverage Processing, describes responsibilities of these workers as the operation of

multi-function process control machinery or single-function machines to process and

package food and beverage products. This definition effectively classifies and defines

these workers as adjuncts to machinery in the preparation of food products. The workers

themselves are not described as making food products; they are responsible for ensuring

that the machines and technologies deployed in the processing and packing of these

products function properly and effectively. The ES website asserts that the three most
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important skills for these workers are numeracy, oral communication and problem

solving. With respect to numeracy, most of the examples provided in the profile are at the

lowest level of complexity and for the most part involve the measurement of inputs and

the products produced. Amongst the numeracy skills needed, the profile notes that

determining the production over an eight-hour shift is the most complex calculation.

According to the ES profile, these tasks represent the most intimate involvement with the

actual food products for Process Control and Machine Operators.

The other requisite skills identified by ES, which include oral communication and

problem solving, reflect a deep reliance on machine technology in the production and

processing of food. Examples of oral communication skills, at most a two out of five in

complexity, most frequently involve the discussion of equipment requirements and

notifying managers of equipment failures. Similarly, problem-solving skills are

associated with trouble-shooting equipment-related problems. The most complex

example of problem solving (complexity level of three) provided in the profile includes

calling maintenance when an automated production process experiences a total shutdown,

and perhaps taking intermediary steps while waiting for a maintenance worker to arrive.

Interestingly, the most simple problem solving example (complexity level one) included

how a worker might have to adjust a roller to alleviate wrinkled crust on a loaf (or loaves)

of bread. In this example, we see how actual fine-tuning and troubleshooting of

production-related operations as they affect the food product is undervalued.

This example is also interesting when one considers that the workers in the

industrial facilities are unlikely to solve any problems related to the appearance of the

crust. In both the facilities observed, the individuals that would actually see the end
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product are far removed from the stations where the rollers (sheeters) are, and

furthermore are not trained to deal with such problems. Even on the production line, such

problems might go overlooked. In industrial facility B, there are no workers on the

production line monitoring the finished breads. In industrial facility A, the workers were

employed primarily to monitor the machines, not the bread. This example tends to

validate the ES profile for Process Control and Machine Operators. However, the

applicability of the profile does not mean that the workers at these types of facility find

meaning or satisfaction in their work. Moreover, employee concern for the end product

may be minimal. This perspective is reflected in a remark made by a worker in one of the

industrial facilities that I visited. When he learned that I was studying the labour process

in baking he commented: “you mean slave labour.”

The remaining six Essential Skills covered in this profile also focus on

technological aspects of work. There is significant discussion of the importance of

working with machinery and dealing with technological processes. There is virtually no

discussion with respect to having any food knowledge or experience in food preparation.

Further, while there is mention of the need to have some understanding of the

technological processes and some capacity to solve mechanical problems, the profile

often cites the need to communicate problems with maintenance workers who will solve

the problem. The profile for Process Control and Machine Operators not only reflects the

work typical of the industrial facilities I observed, but also the apparent detachment of the

workers from the breads they produce. The work offered to these individuals is simple

and less than engaging—their positions are low-skill occupations. Compared to the work

of Co-op bakers, their work in making bread is quite fully deskilled. Skills are not the
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only concern here though. It is also significant that these workers are presumed not to

need any bread or food knowledge in order to make bread. The job application at

industrial facility A never asks the applicants to disclose whether they have any

experience working with food or certifications related to food handling. This represents

one instance where the work and training in the industrial bakeries is dramatically

different from that of the Co-op bakery.

Within the Co-op bakery, the importance of the three core Essential Skills from

the Process Control and Machine Operator profile is quite evident. With respect to

numeracy, the bakers display the ability to make complex calculations related to many

different tasks and phases of the work. For example, to determine the amount of dough to

mix given the production volume needed involves multiplication as well as knowledge

about how much dough translates into a certain quantity of bread. Using the balance scale

requires quick addition and subtraction, calculations made more complex by the need to

calculate in ounces and pounds, which is quite a bit more sophisticated than the base ten

calculations of the metric system. Oral communication between the bakers and the

production assistants is crucial in the bakery. The bakers constantly check with each other

about the products required from a batch of dough, what needs to be made next, what

should be proofed or baked, and what should be baked off or retained for the next day.

The production assistants frequently ask questions about when products will be ready.

In addition, the bakers demonstrate excellent problem solving abilities, which

include repairing broken machines and equipment, troubleshooting bad mixes from

suppliers, making minor adjustments to machinery, determining the optimal way to

utilize their time to get product ready for the store, and coping with interpersonal
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problems that arise from working in an intensive and crowded workplace. The latter also

points to the importance of working well with others, another Essential Skill. There is a

deep camaraderie in the bakery, and the ability to get along is essential for accomplishing

the necessary tasks. Although as much as half of each shift for the baker is spent baking

alone, the ability to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the person they are

working with on a given day can result in a much smoother operation. One baker spoke

about how he made sure to play to the strengths of his coworkers because “at the end of

the day it saves everyone time and energy, it makes life easier for all of us.”

The requirements for other Essential Skills such as document use, computer use,

reading text, and writing are less complex, although document use and reading text are

important when the bakers need to consult recipes. Continuous learning as an Essential

Skill is not formally acknowledged with respect to baking. Within the Co-op grocery

store all employees, the bakers included, receive training with regard to customer service.

Only the bakery manager has any actual baking certifications. This is not to say that

continuous learning does not play a role in becoming a better baker. Throughout the

observation period and during the interviews, all of the bakers noted that there is no

substitute for experience when baking. Doing the job well involves gaining experience in

working the dough. By physically interacting with dough, the bakers develop a deep tacit

knowledge of their work. Over time they develop sensory knowledge about when dough

is mixed or a bread/product is ready. One baker could assess the readiness of the dough

by the sound it would make in the mixer, all of them could touch the dough and

intuitively add flour or water to generate the desired consistency, and baking times would

be adjusted based on how products in the oven responded to their touch.

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This is precisely the type of knowledge and continuous learning that are neglected

by ES. ES profiling does not appear to allow for the recognition of embodied, practical

and tacit knowledge. The ES program associates continuous learning with certified

training and updated credentials. The bakers at the Co-op have developed a highly

specialized and not easily replicated set of skills and knowledge through non-certifiable

routes. Such skills are significantly undervalued compared to other forms of learning

within the ES program and in the workplace. Further, while many employers in the food

industry may recognize this experience, the knowledge about bread possessed by

experienced bakers does not necessarily make them any more employable in the food

industry than their counterparts in the industrial facility.

This problem is exacerbated by the continued introduction of frozen products and

industrial mixes into the bakeries. While bakers, such as those in the Co-op, have a

wealth of knowledge to share with millers and production managers at large scale

facilities, they are marginalized because of their lack of credentials. Despite obvious skill

and knowledge disparities, the bakers would in all likelihood find themselves classed

with the line workers at the industrial bakeries, who are quite accurately described as

process control and machine operators. The lumping of bakers into the category of

Process Control and Machine Operators is inaccurate and unjust. It may also be a sign of

disrespect towards their skills, and a failure on the part of HRSDC to recognize

specialized craft production. It would seem to suggest a bias in favour of capitalist and

managerial attitudes toward labour.

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5.6 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The different types of baking operations documented in this study make for

interesting observations about the interplay of technologies and skill. As one might

suspect, the larger-scale, automated technologies deployed at major industrial facilities

have led to a situation where workers have little involvement in the actual bread-making

process. In contrast, the bakers at the Co-op in-store bakery still retain many of the skills

one might expect from a traditional baker. The mechanical aids and equipment they use

are still at a scale which has minimal negative impact on their skills and knowledge. The

introduction of formulated mixes and bases is, however, an important source of deskilling

in the bakery. These products simplify the production process and create a situation

where the bakers have to draw on their knowledge of bread-making less frequently.

Moreover, both the Co-op bakers and the workers at the industrial facilities face

deskilling in terms of the erosion of their workplace autonomy. At all of the bakeries

studied workers have very little input with respect to the technologies that are adopted,

product selection, or the recipes/ingredients to be used.

The circumstances described above also point toward the (uneven) deskilling of

food workers. This process of deskilling is a result of not only technological change but

also the social relations of production. The decision to implement technological changes

lies with the managers of these facilities, whose primary concerns are efficiency and

profitability. There appears to be little concern if the skill sets of traditional bakers are

lost. However, the bakers at the Co-op were aware that they were still deploying skills

that they had learned over time on the job. They speculated that it was unlikely that a new

cohort of skilled workers would be found to replace their own. While the managers of the
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Co-op prefer to hire skilled bakers, they do very little to ensure that the traditional skill

sets of bakers is preserved and reproduced. The managers appear not to understand

something the bakers seemingly know—that many unacknowledged skills are necessary

to the smooth and efficient operation of the bakery.

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6.0 DISCUSSION

6.1 OVERVIEW

In chapter five, I presented descriptions of the work environments that were

studied, along with evidence for various forms and levels of deskilling. The Essential

Skills program was problematized as a classification scheme that limits workers, and

which develops categories of workers that perpetuate and even deepen class divisions.

This chapter expands on these observations in several ways. First, I will briefly discuss

the importance of Standing’s (1992) definition of skill as a means to address deskilling,

particularly how the use of a more comprehensive definition of skill can revitalize

investigations of deskilling. However, the findings of this research project also point to

some limitations in Standing’s definition, especially as Canada moves towards a

knowledge-based economy. Further reflections on Standing’s work here includes a

discussion of autonomy versus control, and the interconnectedness of skills and

knowledge. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that the baking industry exhibits

characteristics of a post-Fordist structure, which is resulting in the emergence of fewer

highly skilled technical workers even as bakers and others on the production line face

significant deskilling. Following from the discussion of autonomy and control, I discuss

how technologies are not necessarily the most significant agents of deskilling; rather it is

a combination of certain technologies and the social relations of production that continue

to play the greatest role in deskilling.

Within this section I also revisit some of the literature on technology presented

earlier. I conclude by commenting on the potential offered by alternatives with respect to

the social organizations and relationships of production. In the summary section, I review
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the findings of the thesis and also present a brief discussion of the effects the

transformation of bread production (and food production more generally) can have on our

culture.

6.2 INVESTIGATING DESKILLING: THE INTERPLAY OF STANDING AND

BRAVERMAN

Standing’s (1992) three-part definition of skill allows us to better understand

deskilling. This more nuanced definition allows us to understand the process that

Braverman first identified and to address the criticisms put forth by others since the

appearance of Labour and Monopoly Capital. The central criticism of Braverman’s work

is that he downplayed the subjectivity of the worker, and portrayed them as passive and

willing to accept change without objection (Krahn & Lowe, 2002, Smith & Thompson,

1998, Smith, 1994). Standing’s inclusion of the relationship between autonomy and skill

creates a framework where individuals investigating skills and deskilling can focus on the

resistance and accommodation of workers as the subject. By including social standing as

a part of skill, Standing (1992) forces the researcher to understand the social relationships

inherent in all workplaces.

While the critiques of Braverman’s work have been correct in pointing out that he

failed to recognize the resistive capacities of workers, the findings from this study

indicate that the capacity of workers to affect change and play a role in decision making

are, in most circumstances, extremely limited. Neither the Co-op bakery manager nor the

workers had any input into the design of the workplace. The managers of FCL make

decisions with regards to product choices: it was their decisions that saw the introduction

of mixes and frozen products to the bakery. Even when relatively inexpensive
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technologies are requested by bakers to assist in their daily work, managers frequently

reject their input. The most obvious example of this is the repeated refusals by FCL

managers toward the bakers’ requests for a dough lifter. This would save not just their

backs but also production time. What we see in the Co-op bakery is a production process,

almost fully co-ordinated by upper levels of management. Where the bakers are looking

for technologies that will complement their skill and knowledge base, the management at

FCL is looking for technologies that reconstitute the bread-making process as one

controlled by management. These changes are particularly evident in FCL’s management

of their Calgary retail outlets, where in-store bakeries have been totally eliminated and

the bread making outsourced to larger industrial bakeries. It is this type of relationship

that is the hallmark of Braverman’s deskilling thesis.

This finding necessarily relates back to Standing’s definition of skill. While his

three-part definition fosters a more adequate and comprehensive understanding of what

skill entails, we can be confused by the language he uses. When we look at skill as

autonomy there may be a tendency to over-represent the role of worker in the decision

making process. Autonomy is associated with having independence in the workplace, the

ability to guide one’s own work on a day-to-day basis. This type of autonomy is present

in the bakery at the Co-op. Every day the bakers decide how much of each product to

make, and what is the optimal way to make the necessary product. However, the

managers at FCL make product and recipe decisions. The bakers have also internalized

the expectations of management regarding what to do. An occupation in which the bulk

of control and decision-making authority rests with managers removed from the

workplace is subject to the threat of skill erosion. When we look at deskilling, what
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should also be at issue is control of the work process and the knowledge one needs to

assert such control. Where autonomy refers to independence, control should confer an

aura of authority and command over one’s own work. Skill should also be measured with

respect to the role that workers have in key decisions. This can be problematic when one

considers that control is argued by some as the capacity to define how things are

produced—a capacity that emerges from economic ownership (Diaz & Stirling, 2003).

Within the Co-op bakery, this would have meant that the bakers participate fully

in decisions concerning equipment, the layout of the facility, and, most importantly,

which products would be introduced and whether or not mixes are a necessary

technology in the workplace. Academics argue that the involvement of workers in the

decision process creates a whole new atmosphere with respect to technological

implementation. As Rothschild argues, “those who make decisions about the introduction

and implementation of new technology in the workplace will tend to choose technologies

that expand their own discretion, autonomy, and enjoyment in the work process” (2000:

206). However, while workers would obviously select technologies that expand their

autonomy, they frequently lack control over the decisions and decision-making process.

The workers in the industrial bakeries appear to have virtually no say over the

conditions of their work. These workers more closely resemble the profile for Process

Control and Machine Operators: Food and Beverage Industry; that is, they work as

adjuncts to the machinery. The technology is in place as the core means of production.

The baking process in these facilities has been reconstituted as a fully mechanized and

mostly automated process. The workers in these facilities are almost an afterthought.
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They are trained to be complements to the machinery that surrounds them, whether it

produces bread, canned soups, or beverages.

Lack of control over the design, and continued redesign, of the work process is

one hallmark of the deskilling process in the baking industry. The introduction of

technologies contributes to the deskilling of food workers. At the industrial bakery, it is

the scope of the machinery and automation that deepens the deskilling. At the Co-op

bakery, it is the introduction of mixes and frozen products that most significantly

contributes to the deskilling process.

The introduction of mixes and frozen products not only demands less of the

bakers with respect to their skills as technique, it constitutes an intangible type of

deskilling. Not only are the bakers are required to perform fewer manual tasks, but the

introduction of mixes and bases (black box technologies) erodes the knowledge they need

to have of the baking process. When Braverman (1974) details the reconstruction of the

work process as a procedure controlled by management, we have to understand skill as

something more than technique. Being able to accomplish something, such as making

bread, not only requires the physical skills to do so, but also an understanding of what is

happening. The development of any product not only requires a how, but also a why. The

why of the work process is a crucial part of the knowledge. When management opts to

mechanize a production process and lower the skill level of workers, they are also

attacking the knowledge base of the workers. The knowledge may still exist, but a select

few individuals own it. Others who have diminishing or zero knowledge of the details or

design complete the work process.

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This is the case at both of the industrial facilities. In both instances the

development of the breads is conducted in facilities that one manager described as a

hybrid of a traditional kitchen and a scientific laboratory. These individuals develop the

recipes for the benefit of large corporations, who then disseminate the recipes to facilities

across Canada, North America, and the world, so that their brand of bread is the same no

matter where it is purchased. The evidence, with respect to the structure of work, points

to post-Fordist conceptions of the work place, where one group of workers will see their

skill base eroded even as others are required to develop more advanced skills. Bread

making is no exception in this regard. The production manager at industrial facility A

best exemplified this. This individual was a certified miller and had graduated with a

degree in food science. She had a wealth of knowledge about bread, the different

approaches to making bread, and a deep understanding of the technological advances that

have accompanied the industrialization of bread production. However, the development

of products for the company she worked for involved only 10 individuals in Canada.

When we compare this group of 10 highly skilled and knowledgeable workers to the

multiple bakers that have seen their occupation deskilled, there should be a concern about

the aggregate level of deskilling in the food industry. Of particular concern is that the

bread making process falls under the ownership of a select group of people, to whom the

general populace does not have access.

6.3 ESSENTIAL SKILLS: SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT REVISITED

The Canadian government promotes Canada as a country with a knowledge-based

economy. The benefits of this approach can include promotion of workplaces that
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provide complex, highly skilled employment, such as the position of production manager

at the industrial baking facilities that were part of this study. Understanding of the

potential consequences of such a hierarchical workplace appears, however, to be limited.

The government seems to ignore the possibility that such changes can negatively affect

other groups of workers.

The ES program put forth by HRSDC in some ways harkens back to the

development of normalized tools (Therblig charts) for analyzing work. In the same

fashion that managers and engineers would carefully study how workers executed their

tasks, so too the accredited ES profilers observe the day-to-day activities of the worker.

Just as the Therblig Charts used categories of specific actions, the ES profiles are divided

into the nine Essential Skills. However, rather than time being the primary unit of

measure for the ES profiler, the perceived level of complexity of component tasks is the

basis of characterization and categorization of the work. The shift from time to

complexity as the unit of measure is necessitated by the over-arching goals of policy-

makers who view Canada as a knowledge-based economy. Over 200 occupations have

been catalogued to date, including professional occupations. Given the breadth of the

profiles as well as the differences among occupations, it makes little sense to use time as

a unit of analysis. Moreover, the focus on the general nature of particular jobs rather than

on the specifics of their execution also makes it more difficult to use time as a unit of

analysis.31 Instead, complexity becomes the unit of measure for ES.

31
It should be noted that despite the shift to complexity as a unit of measure, time is still an important
factor in the execution of work. While changes in the baking industry demonstrate a shift toward less
complex work in the bread-making process, many of these changes occur as a result of the desire to reduce
the time required to produce bread. Principles of timesaving and efficiency continue to be central concerns
with respect to the organization of work.
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Measuring and classifying work in terms of complexity effectively creates classes

of workers. Occupations that call for skills that are judged to be low-level in terms of

complexity are cheapened (in more than one sense of the word). The profiles can be used

as tools for managers who seek to develop and/or reinforce workplace hierarchies.

Further, ‘concrete’ knowledge of the skills and skill complexity for a given occupation

can allow employers to better screen their (potential) employees. To utilize the profiles in

a screening process further marginalizes individuals who may lack qualifications but are

very capable of quickly learning the skills required to effectively do the job. In this way,

the ES program can actually contribute to deskilling, especially if we consider the social

status aspect of skill. By creating categories of less-skilled occupations we denigrate and

condemn the workers who perform those tasks.

6.4 TECHNOLOGY AND AGENCY

In chapter two, a considerable discussion was presented with respect to the ideas

of technological determinism, the social construction of technologies, and the interplay

between human subjects and material technologies. Perspectives on the relationships

between people and technology are almost as numerous as technologies themselves but it

is nonetheless important to revisit these perspectives, particularly in light of the research

findings. The technologies in place in different work environments have varying effects

on workers but, overall, technologies in the baking industry are deskilling workers. In the

Co-op bakery, the machine technologies serve mainly to increase the productive capacity

of the small number of workers. However, the technologies embedded in the mixes and

bases used by the bakers erode their knowledge. While the continued introduction of
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these technologies is not necessarily in the interest of the bakers, it is also outside their

decision-making realm. They have no control over the process of technological adoption.

The automated technologies in the industrial baking facilities serve to minimize the

interactions of workers with the bread making process. Their occupations present little

opportunity for advancement, and do not offer the chance to gain any specialized

knowledge about bread making.

Both equipment and black-box technologies play a role in the deskilling process,

and the introduction of new technology frequently leads to further technological

innovation. For example, industrial facility A is much older than facility B, and the

differences are obvious. The introduction of the Mecatherm in facility B serves to remove

even more individuals from the actual bread making process. The machine turns making

bread into a completely self-contained process. In facility A, workers were stationed

along the line to monitor the progress of the bread before and after proofing, but in

facility B as soon as the mix was delivered to the hopper there were no employees on the

line until the bread was packaged. The original concept of an automated bread line

continues to evolve, and as it does the process requires fewer workers. Also, with the

introduction of the Mecatherm, and the flash frozen breads it produces, the need for

relatively skilled workers at in-store bakeries decreases.

The cycle of technological change in the baking industry is a good illustration of

the concept of material agency (Pickering, 1993). The technologies themselves affect the

way we do things in the social world. In the case of the bread industry, the continued

introduction of new technologies alters our concepts of making bread; a once manual

process performed by skilled bakers is being reconstituted as a mechanized process.

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Interestingly, the development of frozen products is being marketed as a means of

reconnecting the consumer with bread-making as the consumer can buy frozen loaves to

bake at home. But the choice of bringing home a partially frozen loaf does nothing to

preserve our bread culture or reskill home bakers. Heating the bread for the final ten

minutes does not translate into knowledge of bread making.

While the findings present evidence for material agency, it is important not to

overemphasize the role of technologies in the deskilling process. Though it is true that the

machines and technologies that are put in place result in deskilling of workers, and that

machines and formulated inputs can alter both work practices and the social world, the

technologies do not create and install themselves in the workplace (at least not yet). The

decision to introduce a technology is a social one. In the case of the Co-op bakery, it is

the decision makers at FCL who ultimately decide on the products offered and how and

where they are made. The bakers did not choose to stop making pastries and other fancy

products; FCL made the decision as a means of improving the efficiency, productivity

and profitability of the bakery. Also striking in this regard is the decision of FCL not to

include in-store bakeries when they developed their newer Calgary stores. A continued

push towards fewer products prepared in-store, and toward simplified in-store production

methods, will have drastic implications for the bakers working in Saskatoon Co-ops.

They are likely to experience further deskilling. Human agency is more important in the

deskilling process than any form of purely material agency. The decision to automate and

to introduce technologies is a product of individuals whose commitment is not

necessarily to workers but to efficiency and, more importantly, to labour productivity and

profit.
 130

Some may argue that technologies have agency in the push towards efficiency and

profitability, as they become key actors in the market environment. As discussed earlier,

Schilling argues that “where an entrenched dominant standard exists, or where an

industry is in the process of selecting a dominant standard, firms may be at risk of being

locked out of the market” if they do not conform to the industry standard (1998: 267)

Thus, given that industrial facility B has introduced the Mecatherm, others may find it

necessary to follow suit. The Mecatherm greatly increases the potential market for their

breads. The freezing technology allows them to ship bread across North America, where

others must rely on regional markets for their products. Industrial facility B might be able

to market their frozen breads as a means of presenting ‘fresher’ bread to consumers.

These changes are more commonplace in a radically changing food industry. Having a

large productive capacity and the ability to ship over greater distances plays into the

increasingly dominant paradigm of large national and regional grocery chains that

demand large volumes of a uniform product. However, the decision to consolidate

grocery stores, which forces bread suppliers to produce more volume with greater

uniformity, is also not one based on material agency. The decision to consolidate in the

retail grocery sector is the result of a drive towards increased market power, efficiencies,

and profitability. These are decisions made by human actors based on capitalist

objectives. We should understand that it is not the technology itself, but rather human

decision-makers who are the most integral agents of deskilling.

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6.5 THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION

Despite the evidence for deskilling in the Co-op bakery, it is important to discuss

how the social organization has some benefit for the workers. While there is a failure to

include the bakers in key decisions, the skills they bring to the workplace are not

completely overlooked: the bakery tries to employ experienced bakers. The pay scale at

the Co-op bakery (and the rest of the Co-op) can offer employees an enhanced standard

of living when compared to those working for many competitor enterprises.32 The top of

the pay scale for the bakers themselves nears twenty dollars per hour, and the bakers can

also earn up to seven weeks of annual paid vacation time. Overtime work is consistently

recognized and appropriately compensated. While it was not directly asked, the bakers

indicated that the bakery manager fares even better with respect to remuneration. The Co-

op itself has a very familial atmosphere, with many employees working for extended

periods of time. This is encouraged by managers who believe that there should be viable

career options in food retailing. Of the individuals interviewed at the Co-op, the tenure of

the bakers ranged from four years (for the young part-time baker) to 28 years for the most

experienced baker. The bakery manager had moved through the ranks of the

Saskatchewan Co-operative Association and had over two decades of experience with co-

operatives. The manager of the grocery store had started his co-operative career in high

school working at a Co-op grocery store in British Columbia; over 25 years later he still

exudes great pride in being a part of the Co-op. The manager from FCL had years of

experience working with affiliated co-operatives in Saskatchewan, although his career

was complemented with experiences outside of co-operatives. It should also be noted that

32
Employees working in the retail grocery outlets for the Saskatoon Co-op are members of a union. The
role of the union in should not be underestimated in the benefits that employees receive.
 132

many of these individuals had generational ties to co-operatives, with parents, siblings, or

children working in the co-operative sector.

The stories of the youngest baker’s experiences in other in-store bakeries provide

an interesting counterpoint. Having had training in a small-scale retail bakery, the baker

moved to Saskatoon to attend university and found employment at an in-store bakery for

a national grocer. Within six months he had been promoted from part-time worker to

bakery manager. He estimated that the average tenure for other employees in the bakery

was approximately three months, with many workers leaving due to the nature of the

work and the poor pay. Even as the bakery manager the baker made less per hour than he

does as a part-time baker at the Co-op. Moreover, at the Co-op he receives a benefits

package; benefits were non-existent through his previous employer. In addition to better

wages and benefits, there were two reasons that he chose to leave for the Co-op. The first

of these was the incompetence of his former superiors, and their reluctance to listen to

him. On one occasion, the store manager, in an attempt to save money, insisted that they

only needed to order the base and not the flour to make the bread. Despite the baker’s

pleas and arguments that doing so was not an option, the store manager neglected to order

flour. When it became obvious that bread cannot be made without flour, the manager

blamed the baker for not communicating the need better. Around the same time as this

event, the manager, who had promised full-time hours to the baker as the bakery

manager, reneged on this pledge. The lack of competence, compassion, trust, fairness,

and respect led the baker to leave and pursue work elsewhere.

This contrast raises the potential impact different social relations of production

can have on workers. The Co-op is very successful as a grocery retailer in Saskatoon and
 133

despite the perceived price-consciousness of its customers and members, it is able to treat

employees relatively well and still generate a surplus in a price-driven market. Such

commitment to employees, and the reciprocal loyalty of the employees, is not that

common in today’s economy. However, there still needs to be concern over the

technological and product choices being made and their effects on occupations such as

baking. The centralization of decision-making outside of the store is distressing, in

particular as this study points to the deskilling of bakery work. However, the commitment

of the Co-op to its employees serves as a marketable advantage. Limiting turnover by

treating employees with respect and offering them wages that permit them a reasonable

living can create loyalty that is reflected in efficient, careful, and resourceful work habits.

It is unfortunate that the employees are losing control over key aspects of their work.

This study raises interesting questions for future research into work, especially

with respect to the social relations of production. The anecdotal stories of the young

baker point towards the potential advantages of working in a co-operative. It would be

interesting to investigate more fully the differences between the Co-op and other grocers

with respect to employee satisfaction, retention, training, and skills. This investigation

could be expanded to include other forms of co-operatives. How do different types of co-

operatives (consumer, purchasing, worker-owned) perform as centres for skill and

knowledge retention?

6.6 SUMMARY

The findings of this research point to the existence of deskilling in the baking

industry as defined by Braverman (1974). By utilizing his core concepts and coupling
 134

them with the more complex definition of skill put forward by Standing (1992), we can

build a strong case in support of the deskilling thesis. Deskilling is clearly evident among

employees working in the food industry; in this case the workers on the production line in

industrial bakeries and the bakers at an in-store retail Co-op bakery. In understanding the

findings it is crucial to recognize the machinery and technology as playing a significant

role in the erosion of skills, however, and most importantly, it is the social relations

influencing the production process that are the key agents of deskilling. When decisions

about the production process (the equipment, the inputs, and the products offered) are

separated from the workers that they affect, the most deskilling occurs. While workers

might have considerable autonomy in the structure of their daily routines, the lack of

control over macro-level decisions and issues is tantamount to deskilling.

Within the baking industry many workers are experiencing loss of skill as a result

of not having power over key decisions. As this occurs there is, however, a select group

of workers in the industry who deploy high levels of skill, reasonable control over the

work process, and expert knowledge as they reinvent the bread-making process as

scientific practice. Even with increasing skills at this level, aggregate skill levels in the

baking industry decrease, and the knowledge of traditional bread production is being lost.

Knowledge becomes a key issue. With the advent of the ES, the Canadian

Government continues to position Canada as a country hallmarked by a knowledge-based

economy. Food production, however, is marginalized and there is little recognition for

the complex skills and specialized knowledge that people more intimately involved with

food demonstrate. This raises two crucial issues in light of the research. The first is

whether people can have trust in the food they consume when it is produced in a heavily
 135

industrialized setting. It merits mention that in my conversations with the production

manager of industrial facility A and manger of the mill in Saskatoon that neither of them

trusted their product enough to eat it. The production manager at the industrial bakery

bought her bread from a local bakery where she could select from a more wholesome

selection of bread. The manager of the mill chooses to purchase his bread from the local

farmers market or a local bakery in his neighbourhood. The apparent skepticism of these

individuals towards the system of food production they are key actors in should be

troubling to all consumers. Second, returning to the discussion of skill, it is very

important that we continue to recognize the interconnectedness of skill and knowledge. In

a time where many perceive us to be entering a knowledge-based economy we need to

appreciate that deskilling involves something more than reductions in skill as technique.

Deskilling must also be viewed as a process of deknowledging. Reducing the knowledge

that an individual requires to complete a given task serves to marginalize that individual.

A lack of knowledge puts the worker in a vulnerable position where control is difficult to

regain.

This study has its limitations. First, the study would certainly have benefited from

the ability to interview the workers at the industrial baking facilities. In addition, longer

observation periods at these facilities would have enhanced the findings. Also, in order to

generate a broader understanding of the bread industry interviews and observation at

small-scale bakeries would have helped to inform the study regarding the extent of

deskilling in different work environments. However, the investigation into the supply

chain affecting the Co-op bakery, and the industrial facilities does add important

dimensions to the findings. One of the strengths of the research in this regard is that it
 136

points to arenas for future research regarding skills and knowledge of workers. The

pattern that emerged from the investigation is one where deskilling becomes more

apparent as mechanization and automation increase within production facilities. Future

studies of work with respect to skill and knowledge retention should focus on

comparisons of the different sizes and forms of work organization such as industrial

facilities, light industrial environments, small businesses, and traditional capitalist

enterprises versus co-operative forms of ownership. To ensure rewarding work

experiences we need to continue to investigate work and the labour process with a critical

eye. The findings of this research illustrate that there is still life in Braverman’s deskilling

thesis, especially when considered alongside new research with respect to skills.
 137

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